Buchanan vs Watervliet

A side-by-side comparison of Buchanan and Watervliet: population, income, housing, and more.

Buchanan and Watervliet are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Buchanan has the higher population (4,259 vs 1,879 in Watervliet). Watervliet has the higher median household income ($57,477 vs $54,068 in Buchanan). Buchanan has the higher median home value ($138,400 vs $130,000 in Watervliet).

Population, income & housing

	Buchanan	Watervliet
Population	4,259	1,879
Median age	32.9 yrs	29.9 yrs
Median household income	$54,068	$57,477
Median home value	$138,400	$130,000
Median gross rent	$952	$838
Housing units	2,112	707
Homeownership rate	56.0%	66.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.7%	10.4%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buchanan	Watervliet
Population	4,304 → 4,259 (-1.0%)	1,544 → 1,879 (+21.7%)
Median household income	$42,593 → $54,068 (+26.9%)	$37,614 → $57,477 (+52.8%)
Median home value	$109,700 → $138,400 (+26.2%)	$99,400 → $130,000 (+30.8%)
Median gross rent	$674 → $952 (+41.2%)	$702 → $838 (+19.4%)

Buchanan

Population

4,3044,259

Median household income

$42,593$54,068

Median home value

$109,700$138,400

Median gross rent

$674$952

Watervliet

Population

1,5441,879

Median household income

$37,614$57,477

Median home value

$99,400$130,000

Median gross rent

$702$838

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buchanan	Watervliet
Under 5	9.3%	12.0%
5 to 17	14.6%	19.2%
18 to 24	12.7%	8.1%
25 to 34	15.1%	15.2%
35 to 44	10.2%	13.6%
45 to 54	13.6%	9.8%
55 to 64	8.2%	11.5%
65 to 74	8.5%	5.4%
75 and over	7.8%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buchanan	Watervliet
White (non-Hispanic)	79.9%	72.2%
Black or African American	1.8%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	2.3%
Asian	0.7%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	10.2%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	7.3%	21.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buchanan	Watervliet
No high school diploma	5.3%	16.2%
High school graduate	34.6%	28.7%
Some college or associate's	45.4%	44.6%
Bachelor's degree	10.8%	7.4%
Graduate or professional degree	3.9%	3.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buchanan	Watervliet
Drove alone	80.8%	82.1%
Carpooled	11.7%	15.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.9%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.7%	1.9%
Other means	0.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buchanan	Watervliet
1-unit, detached	62.7%	73.1%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	7.8%
2 to 4 units	11.7%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	21.3%	0.3%
20 or more units	2.8%	8.5%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	1.6%

Poverty & households

	Buchanan	Watervliet
Poverty rate	6.7%	18.2%
Average household size	2.39	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	19	20
Median year structure built	1958	1958