Escanaba vs Rapid River

A side-by-side comparison of Escanaba and Rapid River: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Escanaba has the higher population (12,374 vs 230 in Rapid River). Escanaba has the higher median household income ($40,169 vs $39,375 in Rapid River). Escanaba has the higher median home value ($116,600 vs $105,600 in Rapid River).

Population, income & housing

	Escanaba	Rapid River
Population	12,374	230
Median age	43.5 yrs	41.4 yrs
Median household income	$40,169	$39,375
Median home value	$116,600	$105,600
Median gross rent	$661	—
Housing units	6,556	109
Homeownership rate	58.6%	83.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.9%	11.2%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Escanaba	Rapid River
Population	12,251 → 12,374 (+1.0%)	279 → 230 (-17.6%)
Median household income	$35,813 → $40,169 (+12.2%)	$30,000 → $39,375 (+31.3%)
Median home value	$86,100 → $116,600 (+35.4%)	$104,200 → $105,600 (+1.3%)
Median gross rent	$563 → $661 (+17.4%)	$401 → $323 (-19.5%)

Escanaba

Population

12,25112,374

Median household income

$35,813$40,169

Median home value

$86,100$116,600

Median gross rent

$563$661

Rapid River

Population

279230

Median household income

$30,000$39,375

Median home value

$104,200$105,600

Median gross rent

$401$323

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Escanaba	Rapid River
Under 5	5.1%	0.9%
5 to 17	16.2%	21.7%
18 to 24	7.0%	3.5%
25 to 34	10.9%	15.2%
35 to 44	12.6%	11.3%
45 to 54	11.1%	5.7%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.9%
65 to 74	12.9%	16.1%
75 and over	9.9%	11.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Escanaba	Rapid River
White (non-Hispanic)	86.4%	82.2%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	2.0%	0.9%
Asian	0.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	8.9%	17.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Escanaba	Rapid River
No high school diploma	11.9%	3.5%
High school graduate	32.9%	49.4%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	35.9%
Bachelor's degree	13.1%	8.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	2.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Escanaba	Rapid River
Drove alone	74.7%	57.1%
Carpooled	13.5%	42.9%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	3.2%	0.0%
Bicycle	1.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.9%	0.0%
Other means	1.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Escanaba	Rapid River
1-unit, detached	61.6%	91.7%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	15.1%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	0.9%
20 or more units	9.0%	7.3%
Mobile home & other	4.9%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Escanaba	Rapid River
Poverty rate	21.1%	9.6%
Average household size	2.07	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	11	28
Median year structure built	1951	1957