Houghton vs Laurium

A side-by-side comparison of Houghton and Laurium: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Houghton has the higher population (8,341 vs 1,486 in Laurium). Laurium has the higher median household income ($42,206 vs $35,417 in Houghton). Houghton has the higher median home value ($233,700 vs $87,600 in Laurium).

Population, income & housing

	Houghton	Laurium
Population	8,341	1,486
Median age	21.9 yrs	48.3 yrs
Median household income	$35,417	$42,206
Median home value	$233,700	$87,600
Median gross rent	$861	$590
Housing units	2,502	993
Homeownership rate	37.7%	70.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	65.7%	32.7%
Unemployment rate	10.8%	0.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Houghton	Laurium
Population	7,870 → 8,341 (+6.0%)	2,073 → 1,486 (-28.3%)
Median household income	$23,135 → $35,417 (+53.1%)	$40,125 → $42,206 (+5.2%)
Median home value	$155,600 → $233,700 (+50.2%)	$75,700 → $87,600 (+15.7%)
Median gross rent	$665 → $861 (+29.5%)	$525 → $590 (+12.4%)

Houghton

Population

7,8708,341

Median household income

$23,135$35,417

Median home value

$155,600$233,700

Median gross rent

$665$861

Laurium

Population

2,0731,486

Median household income

$40,125$42,206

Median home value

$75,700$87,600

Median gross rent

$525$590

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Houghton	Laurium
Under 5	2.1%	4.2%
5 to 17	8.9%	12.4%
18 to 24	52.7%	14.7%
25 to 34	11.5%	5.2%
35 to 44	5.7%	11.4%
45 to 54	5.8%	14.7%
55 to 64	5.0%	15.0%
65 to 74	3.6%	14.8%
75 and over	4.8%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Houghton	Laurium
White (non-Hispanic)	78.5%	92.2%
Black or African American	2.8%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.0%	1.1%
Asian	8.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	2.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	1.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	3.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Houghton	Laurium
No high school diploma	5.2%	8.0%
High school graduate	13.9%	31.3%
Some college or associate's	15.3%	27.9%
Bachelor's degree	21.5%	16.4%
Graduate or professional degree	44.2%	16.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Houghton	Laurium
Drove alone	45.8%	66.3%
Carpooled	6.4%	19.0%
Public transit	8.8%	0.0%
Walked	29.0%	4.6%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.4%	6.2%
Other means	1.5%	3.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Houghton	Laurium
1-unit, detached	47.2%	79.0%
1-unit, attached	3.3%	2.5%
2 to 4 units	14.5%	11.3%
5 to 19 units	12.4%	2.6%
20 or more units	21.7%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	1.2%

Poverty & households

	Houghton	Laurium
Poverty rate	34.9%	19.2%
Average household size	2.17	2.01
Mean commute (minutes)	12	16
Median year structure built	1977	1938