East Tawas vs Sand Lake

A side-by-side comparison of East Tawas and Sand Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

East Tawas and Sand Lake are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

East Tawas has the higher population (2,686 vs 1,214 in Sand Lake). Sand Lake has the higher median household income ($49,615 vs $41,619 in East Tawas). Sand Lake has the higher median home value ($139,300 vs $114,400 in East Tawas).

Population, income & housing

	East Tawas	Sand Lake
Population	2,686	1,214
Median age	57.7 yrs	61.9 yrs
Median household income	$41,619	$49,615
Median home value	$114,400	$139,300
Median gross rent	$569	$633
Housing units	1,911	1,664
Homeownership rate	70.0%	91.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.5%	15.9%
Unemployment rate	8.1%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Tawas	Sand Lake
Population	2,733 → 2,686 (-1.7%)	1,407 → 1,214 (-13.7%)
Median household income	$40,417 → $41,619 (+3.0%)	$36,684 → $49,615 (+35.2%)
Median home value	$95,500 → $114,400 (+19.8%)	$94,700 → $139,300 (+47.1%)
Median gross rent	$588 → $569 (-3.2%)	$612 → $633 (+3.4%)

East Tawas

Population

2,7332,686

Median household income

$40,417$41,619

Median home value

$95,500$114,400

Median gross rent

$588$569

Sand Lake

Population

1,4071,214

Median household income

$36,684$49,615

Median home value

$94,700$139,300

Median gross rent

$612$633

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Tawas	Sand Lake
Under 5	1.6%	2.2%
5 to 17	10.6%	7.0%
18 to 24	4.2%	2.8%
25 to 34	7.1%	8.0%
35 to 44	10.5%	4.5%
45 to 54	13.4%	8.0%
55 to 64	18.1%	28.3%
65 to 74	23.5%	22.3%
75 and over	11.1%	16.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Tawas	Sand Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	86.6%	97.0%
Black or African American	2.5%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.1%
Asian	1.7%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	6.9%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Tawas	Sand Lake
No high school diploma	4.9%	11.3%
High school graduate	37.3%	32.4%
Some college or associate's	38.3%	40.4%
Bachelor's degree	9.2%	9.3%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	6.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Tawas	Sand Lake
Drove alone	59.1%	77.9%
Carpooled	16.4%	5.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	16.1%	3.1%
Bicycle	1.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.9%	11.2%
Other means	0.0%	2.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Tawas	Sand Lake
1-unit, detached	73.5%	91.2%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	1.9%	1.0%
5 to 19 units	8.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	11.1%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	7.2%

Poverty & households

	East Tawas	Sand Lake
Poverty rate	13.5%	17.5%
Average household size	1.80	1.95
Mean commute (minutes)	13	37
Median year structure built	1972	1970