Lake Michigan Beach vs New Buffalo

A side-by-side comparison of Lake Michigan Beach and New Buffalo: population, income, housing, and more.

Lake Michigan Beach and New Buffalo are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

New Buffalo has the higher population (1,306 vs 914 in Lake Michigan Beach). New Buffalo has the higher median household income ($64,524 vs $61,250 in Lake Michigan Beach). New Buffalo has the higher median home value ($342,700 vs $259,900 in Lake Michigan Beach).

Population, income & housing

	Lake Michigan Beach	New Buffalo
Population	914	1,306
Median age	52.8 yrs	53.8 yrs
Median household income	$61,250	$64,524
Median home value	$259,900	$342,700
Median gross rent	—	$825
Housing units	952	1,666
Homeownership rate	87.5%	76.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.9%	40.1%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake Michigan Beach	New Buffalo
Population	1,190 → 914 (-23.2%)	1,714 → 1,306 (-23.8%)
Median household income	$61,667 → $61,250 (-0.7%)	$48,102 → $64,524 (+34.1%)
Median home value	$139,400 → $259,900 (+86.4%)	$223,100 → $342,700 (+53.6%)
Median gross rent	—	$903 → $825 (-8.6%)

Lake Michigan Beach

Population

1,190914

Median household income

$61,667$61,250

Median home value

$139,400$259,900

New Buffalo

Population

1,7141,306

Median household income

$48,102$64,524

Median home value

$223,100$342,700

Median gross rent

$903$825

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake Michigan Beach	New Buffalo
Under 5	1.2%	2.5%
5 to 17	14.9%	8.5%
18 to 24	7.3%	3.4%
25 to 34	3.7%	8.0%
35 to 44	9.1%	11.9%
45 to 54	16.1%	16.8%
55 to 64	10.4%	19.1%
65 to 74	29.0%	21.6%
75 and over	8.3%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake Michigan Beach	New Buffalo
White (non-Hispanic)	87.4%	84.8%
Black or African American	8.9%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	1.3%
Asian	0.0%	5.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.4%	0.8%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake Michigan Beach	New Buffalo
No high school diploma	5.1%	8.1%
High school graduate	31.7%	20.8%
Some college or associate's	31.3%	31.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.7%	20.5%
Graduate or professional degree	15.1%	19.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake Michigan Beach	New Buffalo
Drove alone	72.0%	76.0%
Carpooled	10.0%	6.6%
Public transit	0.0%	1.0%
Walked	9.5%	4.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.8%	12.4%
Other means	5.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake Michigan Beach	New Buffalo
1-unit, detached	98.0%	68.8%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	9.3%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	7.4%
20 or more units	0.0%	9.4%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Lake Michigan Beach	New Buffalo
Poverty rate	4.9%	10.0%
Average household size	2.28	1.72
Mean commute (minutes)	28	21
Median year structure built	1965	1973