Big Bay vs Palmer

A side-by-side comparison of Big Bay and Palmer: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Palmer has the higher population (342 vs 307 in Big Bay). Palmer has the higher median household income ($64,000 vs $48,672 in Big Bay). Big Bay has the higher median home value ($261,400 vs $74,700 in Palmer).

Population, income & housing

	Big Bay	Palmer
Population	307	342
Median age	53.2 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$48,672	$64,000
Median home value	$261,400	$74,700
Housing units	292	169
Homeownership rate	82.4%	91.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.9%	14.8%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Bay	Palmer
Population	189 → 307 (+62.4%)	423 → 342 (-19.1%)
Median household income	$61,250 → $48,672 (-20.5%)	$51,307 → $64,000 (+24.7%)
Median home value	$165,900 → $261,400 (+57.6%)	$62,900 → $74,700 (+18.8%)
Median gross rent	—	$625 → $693 (+10.9%)

Big Bay

Population

189307

Median household income

$61,250$48,672

Median home value

$165,900$261,400

Palmer

Population

423342

Median household income

$51,307$64,000

Median home value

$62,900$74,700

Median gross rent

$625$693

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Big Bay	Palmer
Under 5	5.5%	5.0%
5 to 17	12.7%	16.7%
18 to 24	6.2%	7.3%
25 to 34	4.9%	14.6%
35 to 44	13.0%	9.6%
45 to 54	15.6%	12.6%
55 to 64	8.8%	19.9%
65 to 74	21.8%	13.2%
75 and over	11.4%	1.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Bay	Palmer
White (non-Hispanic)	93.5%	93.6%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.5%	6.4%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Bay	Palmer
No high school diploma	3.0%	7.0%
High school graduate	28.9%	31.3%
Some college or associate's	30.2%	46.9%
Bachelor's degree	33.2%	14.0%
Graduate or professional degree	4.7%	0.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Bay	Palmer
Drove alone	62.2%	70.6%
Carpooled	0.0%	23.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	37.8%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	5.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Bay	Palmer
1-unit, detached	93.8%	92.3%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.2%	4.1%

Poverty & households

	Big Bay	Palmer
Poverty rate	22.0%	3.5%
Average household size	2.34	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	24	30
Median year structure built	1967	1946