Ionia vs Saranac

A side-by-side comparison of Ionia and Saranac: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ionia has the higher population (12,950 vs 1,973 in Saranac). Saranac has the higher median household income ($64,157 vs $60,729 in Ionia). Saranac has the higher median home value ($183,300 vs $161,100 in Ionia).

Population, income & housing

	Ionia	Saranac
Population	12,950	1,973
Median age	38.2 yrs	33.4 yrs
Median household income	$60,729	$64,157
Median home value	$161,100	$183,300
Median gross rent	$789	$415
Housing units	3,981	760
Homeownership rate	60.4%	67.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.8%	22.4%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ionia	Saranac
Population	11,147 → 12,950 (+16.2%)	1,409 → 1,973 (+40.0%)
Median household income	$48,902 → $60,729 (+24.2%)	$47,159 → $64,157 (+36.0%)
Median home value	$97,600 → $161,100 (+65.1%)	$109,200 → $183,300 (+67.9%)
Median gross rent	$813 → $789 (-3.0%)	$460 → $415 (-9.8%)

Ionia

Population

11,14712,950

Median household income

$48,902$60,729

Median home value

$97,600$161,100

Median gross rent

$813$789

Saranac

Population

1,4091,973

Median household income

$47,159$64,157

Median home value

$109,200$183,300

Median gross rent

$460$415

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ionia	Saranac
Under 5	5.2%	6.2%
5 to 17	10.1%	15.4%
18 to 24	8.1%	17.8%
25 to 34	22.3%	11.7%
35 to 44	17.3%	8.4%
45 to 54	12.6%	18.2%
55 to 64	11.4%	11.3%
65 to 74	9.1%	5.9%
75 and over	3.9%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ionia	Saranac
White (non-Hispanic)	71.9%	93.6%
Black or African American	14.0%	1.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.9%
Asian	0.0%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.7%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	9.5%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ionia	Saranac
No high school diploma	13.8%	5.6%
High school graduate	43.5%	47.1%
Some college or associate's	30.8%	24.9%
Bachelor's degree	8.2%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	3.6%	9.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ionia	Saranac
Drove alone	67.7%	82.9%
Carpooled	12.3%	2.5%
Public transit	7.2%	0.0%
Walked	5.9%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.2%	13.4%
Other means	1.7%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ionia	Saranac
1-unit, detached	65.6%	69.7%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	10.3%	3.4%
5 to 19 units	10.5%	6.3%
20 or more units	9.3%	17.5%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Ionia	Saranac
Poverty rate	16.4%	13.0%
Average household size	2.56	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	23	23
Median year structure built	1948	1968