Benton Harbor vs St. Joseph

A side-by-side comparison of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph: population, income, housing, and more.

Benton Harbor and St. Joseph are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Benton Harbor has the higher population (9,023 vs 7,805 in St. Joseph). St. Joseph has the higher median household income ($77,765 vs $29,652 in Benton Harbor). St. Joseph has the higher median home value ($271,100 vs $75,500 in Benton Harbor).

Population, income & housing

	Benton Harbor	St. Joseph
Population	9,023	7,805
Median age	33.2 yrs	43.4 yrs
Median household income	$29,652	$77,765
Median home value	$75,500	$271,100
Median gross rent	$775	$1,079
Housing units	4,324	4,881
Homeownership rate	36.5%	59.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	7.8%	51.1%
Unemployment rate	20.8%	1.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Benton Harbor	St. Joseph
Population	9,843 → 9,023 (-8.3%)	8,316 → 7,805 (-6.1%)
Median household income	$21,916 → $29,652 (+35.3%)	$62,374 → $77,765 (+24.7%)
Median home value	$63,300 → $75,500 (+19.3%)	$196,000 → $271,100 (+38.3%)
Median gross rent	$644 → $775 (+20.3%)	$774 → $1,079 (+39.4%)

Benton Harbor

Population

9,8439,023

Median household income

$21,916$29,652

Median home value

$63,300$75,500

Median gross rent

$644$775

St. Joseph

Population

8,3167,805

Median household income

$62,374$77,765

Median home value

$196,000$271,100

Median gross rent

$774$1,079

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Benton Harbor	St. Joseph
Under 5	5.2%	3.7%
5 to 17	23.1%	10.3%
18 to 24	10.1%	9.6%
25 to 34	13.2%	16.0%
35 to 44	14.6%	11.1%
45 to 54	15.0%	12.7%
55 to 64	10.2%	12.2%
65 to 74	5.3%	13.4%
75 and over	3.2%	11.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Benton Harbor	St. Joseph
White (non-Hispanic)	9.3%	84.1%
Black or African American	80.2%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	2.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.7%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.5%	4.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Benton Harbor	St. Joseph
No high school diploma	19.3%	2.6%
High school graduate	36.6%	19.0%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	27.3%
Bachelor's degree	5.1%	30.5%
Graduate or professional degree	2.8%	20.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Benton Harbor	St. Joseph
Drove alone	76.2%	75.4%
Carpooled	11.2%	2.6%
Public transit	1.2%	0.2%
Walked	3.3%	5.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.4%
Worked from home	7.6%	15.1%
Other means	0.4%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Benton Harbor	St. Joseph
1-unit, detached	71.8%	59.6%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	2.0%
2 to 4 units	7.6%	12.8%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	7.4%
20 or more units	10.6%	18.2%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Benton Harbor	St. Joseph
Poverty rate	41.9%	7.1%
Average household size	2.38	1.85
Mean commute (minutes)	18	15
Median year structure built	1956	1954