Grand Rapids vs Kentwood

A side-by-side comparison of Grand Rapids and Kentwood: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Grand Rapids has the higher population (197,768 vs 54,114 in Kentwood). Kentwood has the higher median household income ($73,647 vs $65,526 in Grand Rapids). Kentwood has the higher median home value ($249,000 vs $225,500 in Grand Rapids).

Population, income & housing

	Grand Rapids	Kentwood
Population	197,768	54,114
Median age	32.1 yrs	34.7 yrs
Median household income	$65,526	$73,647
Median home value	$225,500	$249,000
Median gross rent	$1,191	$1,205
Housing units	85,145	22,450
Homeownership rate	54.6%	60.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	40.1%	35.1%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Grand Rapids	Kentwood
Population	198,401 → 197,768 (-0.3%)	51,693 → 54,114 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$50,103 → $65,526 (+30.8%)	$54,197 → $73,647 (+35.9%)
Median home value	$143,400 → $225,500 (+57.3%)	$158,700 → $249,000 (+56.9%)
Median gross rent	$925 → $1,191 (+28.8%)	$899 → $1,205 (+34.0%)

Grand Rapids

Population

198,401197,768

Median household income

$50,103$65,526

Median home value

$143,400$225,500

Median gross rent

$925$1,191

Kentwood

Population

51,69354,114

Median household income

$54,197$73,647

Median home value

$158,700$249,000

Median gross rent

$899$1,205

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Grand Rapids	Kentwood
Under 5	6.6%	6.6%
5 to 17	14.8%	17.9%
18 to 24	13.2%	8.3%
25 to 34	20.5%	17.6%
35 to 44	12.5%	13.1%
45 to 54	9.7%	10.9%
55 to 64	9.8%	11.1%
65 to 74	7.8%	8.5%
75 and over	5.1%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Grand Rapids	Kentwood
White (non-Hispanic)	57.5%	54.6%
Black or African American	17.4%	19.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	2.8%	9.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.3%
Two or more races	5.4%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	16.1%	11.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Grand Rapids	Kentwood
No high school diploma	11.0%	10.4%
High school graduate	21.7%	24.9%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	29.5%
Bachelor's degree	26.3%	23.7%
Graduate or professional degree	13.7%	11.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Grand Rapids	Kentwood
Drove alone	69.3%	79.0%
Carpooled	8.9%	7.0%
Public transit	3.1%	1.3%
Walked	4.3%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.3%
Worked from home	12.3%	10.9%
Other means	1.1%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Grand Rapids	Kentwood
1-unit, detached	56.6%	49.8%
1-unit, attached	5.2%	11.3%
2 to 4 units	15.6%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	21.3%
20 or more units	14.2%	8.5%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	3.8%

Poverty & households

	Grand Rapids	Kentwood
Poverty rate	18.6%	9.4%
Average household size	2.38	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	19	20
Median year structure built	1953	1983