Ironwood vs Watersmeet

A side-by-side comparison of Ironwood and Watersmeet: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ironwood has the higher population (5,004 vs 273 in Watersmeet). Watersmeet has the higher median household income ($60,708 vs $37,191 in Ironwood). Ironwood has the higher median home value ($74,900 vs $68,500 in Watersmeet).

Population, income & housing

	Ironwood	Watersmeet
Population	5,004	273
Median age	50.4 yrs	45.6 yrs
Median household income	$37,191	$60,708
Median home value	$74,900	$68,500
Median gross rent	$555	—
Housing units	3,072	187
Homeownership rate	72.8%	87.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.5%	9.2%
Unemployment rate	12.7%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ironwood	Watersmeet
Population	4,955 → 5,004 (+1.0%)	400 → 273 (-31.8%)
Median household income	$31,351 → $37,191 (+18.6%)	$32,639 → $60,708 (+86.0%)
Median home value	$47,000 → $74,900 (+59.4%)	$56,600 → $68,500 (+21.0%)
Median gross rent	$510 → $555 (+8.8%)	—

Ironwood

Population

4,9555,004

Median household income

$31,351$37,191

Median home value

$47,000$74,900

Median gross rent

$510$555

Watersmeet

Population

400273

Median household income

$32,639$60,708

Median home value

$56,600$68,500

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ironwood	Watersmeet
Under 5	2.5%	5.1%
5 to 17	11.9%	27.1%
18 to 24	5.0%	0.0%
25 to 34	12.5%	11.4%
35 to 44	12.8%	2.9%
45 to 54	11.3%	17.6%
55 to 64	15.3%	7.3%
65 to 74	13.0%	27.5%
75 and over	15.7%	1.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ironwood	Watersmeet
White (non-Hispanic)	93.5%	44.3%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	39.6%
Asian	0.7%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.6%	13.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.5%	2.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ironwood	Watersmeet
No high school diploma	6.5%	1.6%
High school graduate	33.9%	57.8%
Some college or associate's	40.0%	31.4%
Bachelor's degree	11.7%	4.9%
Graduate or professional degree	7.8%	4.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ironwood	Watersmeet
Drove alone	83.9%	72.9%
Carpooled	5.1%	20.2%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	7.0%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.9%	0.0%
Other means	1.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ironwood	Watersmeet
1-unit, detached	82.7%	95.2%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	6.1%	0.0%
20 or more units	3.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	Ironwood	Watersmeet
Poverty rate	14.9%	5.5%
Average household size	1.82	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	19	10
Median year structure built	1938	1972