Empire vs Lake Leelanau

A side-by-side comparison of Empire and Lake Leelanau: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Empire has the higher population (384 vs 223 in Lake Leelanau). Empire has the higher median household income ($75,938 vs $60,500 in Lake Leelanau). Empire has the higher median home value ($368,400 vs $307,700 in Lake Leelanau).

Population, income & housing

	Empire	Lake Leelanau
Population	384	223
Median age	63.7 yrs	17.6 yrs
Median household income	$75,938	$60,500
Median home value	$368,400	$307,700
Median gross rent	$379	—
Housing units	342	77
Homeownership rate	81.9%	93.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.3%	27.9%
Unemployment rate	1.5%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Empire	Lake Leelanau
Population	263 → 384 (+46.0%)	160 → 223 (+39.4%)
Median household income	$38,977 → $75,938 (+94.8%)	$71,250 → $60,500 (-15.1%)
Median home value	$227,400 → $368,400 (+62.0%)	$172,100 → $307,700 (+78.8%)
Median gross rent	$361 → $379 (+5.0%)	—

Empire

Population

263384

Median household income

$38,977$75,938

Median home value

$227,400$368,400

Median gross rent

$361$379

Lake Leelanau

Population

160223

Median household income

$71,250$60,500

Median home value

$172,100$307,700

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Empire	Lake Leelanau
Under 5	1.3%	9.9%
5 to 17	16.4%	43.5%
18 to 24	0.0%	0.0%
25 to 34	3.1%	1.8%
35 to 44	8.6%	12.1%
45 to 54	2.1%	2.2%
55 to 64	23.2%	18.8%
65 to 74	27.9%	11.7%
75 and over	17.4%	0.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Empire	Lake Leelanau
White (non-Hispanic)	91.9%	88.8%
Black or African American	1.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	11.2%
Two or more races	0.3%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.5%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Empire	Lake Leelanau
No high school diploma	1.9%	4.8%
High school graduate	13.9%	23.1%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	44.2%
Bachelor's degree	26.6%	27.9%
Graduate or professional degree	24.7%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Empire	Lake Leelanau
Drove alone	73.7%	55.1%
Carpooled	6.8%	14.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.8%	12.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	18.8%	17.9%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Empire	Lake Leelanau
1-unit, detached	88.3%	93.5%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.5%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	7.9%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	6.5%

Poverty & households

	Empire	Lake Leelanau
Poverty rate	15.1%	1.8%
Average household size	1.99	3.60
Mean commute (minutes)	24	21
Median year structure built	1973	1992