Dowagiac vs Vandalia

A side-by-side comparison of Dowagiac and Vandalia: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Dowagiac has the higher population (5,677 vs 369 in Vandalia). Vandalia has the higher median household income ($65,000 vs $38,433 in Dowagiac). Dowagiac has the higher median home value ($110,300 vs $64,200 in Vandalia).

Population, income & housing

	Dowagiac	Vandalia
Population	5,677	369
Median age	37.3 yrs	27.2 yrs
Median household income	$38,433	$65,000
Median home value	$110,300	$64,200
Median gross rent	$722	$1,168
Housing units	3,026	140
Homeownership rate	50.3%	69.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.1%	6.5%
Unemployment rate	11.9%	7.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dowagiac	Vandalia
Population	5,743 → 5,677 (-1.1%)	381 → 369 (-3.1%)
Median household income	$33,520 → $38,433 (+14.7%)	$37,500 → $65,000 (+73.3%)
Median home value	$71,100 → $110,300 (+55.1%)	$37,900 → $64,200 (+69.4%)
Median gross rent	$579 → $722 (+24.7%)	$782 → $1,168 (+49.4%)

Dowagiac

Population

5,7435,677

Median household income

$33,520$38,433

Median home value

$71,100$110,300

Median gross rent

$579$722

Vandalia

Population

381369

Median household income

$37,500$65,000

Median home value

$37,900$64,200

Median gross rent

$782$1,168

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dowagiac	Vandalia
Under 5	5.5%	8.9%
5 to 17	16.2%	29.0%
18 to 24	9.3%	8.1%
25 to 34	17.3%	12.7%
35 to 44	7.6%	10.3%
45 to 54	10.7%	5.7%
55 to 64	13.8%	14.6%
65 to 74	11.2%	6.0%
75 and over	8.5%	4.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dowagiac	Vandalia
White (non-Hispanic)	71.3%	65.0%
Black or African American	11.5%	15.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	2.3%	0.3%
Asian	0.2%	6.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	4.6%
Two or more races	7.2%	0.8%
Hispanic or Latino	7.4%	7.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dowagiac	Vandalia
No high school diploma	14.7%	21.6%
High school graduate	36.7%	43.7%
Some college or associate's	36.5%	28.1%
Bachelor's degree	9.0%	5.0%
Graduate or professional degree	3.1%	1.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dowagiac	Vandalia
Drove alone	74.5%	76.8%
Carpooled	12.4%	20.4%
Public transit	1.5%	0.0%
Walked	4.7%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.5%	0.0%
Other means	3.4%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dowagiac	Vandalia
1-unit, detached	64.3%	91.4%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	11.7%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	14.1%	0.0%
20 or more units	6.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	7.1%

Poverty & households

	Dowagiac	Vandalia
Poverty rate	30.4%	5.8%
Average household size	2.14	3.02
Mean commute (minutes)	25	29
Median year structure built	1952	1946