Muskegon vs Norton Shores

A side-by-side comparison of Muskegon and Norton Shores: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Muskegon has the higher population (37,203 vs 25,000 in Norton Shores). Norton Shores has the higher median household income ($73,390 vs $46,342 in Muskegon). Norton Shores has the higher median home value ($214,000 vs $121,800 in Muskegon).

Population, income & housing

	Muskegon	Norton Shores
Population	37,203	25,000
Median age	36.0 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$46,342	$73,390
Median home value	$121,800	$214,000
Median gross rent	$927	$1,286
Housing units	16,023	10,700
Homeownership rate	54.2%	85.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.8%	33.2%
Unemployment rate	9.3%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Muskegon	Norton Shores
Population	37,633 → 37,203 (-1.1%)	24,467 → 25,000 (+2.2%)
Median household income	$32,433 → $46,342 (+42.9%)	$63,805 → $73,390 (+15.0%)
Median home value	$73,000 → $121,800 (+66.8%)	$140,400 → $214,000 (+52.4%)
Median gross rent	$706 → $927 (+31.3%)	$946 → $1,286 (+35.9%)

Muskegon

Population

37,63337,203

Median household income

$32,433$46,342

Median home value

$73,000$121,800

Median gross rent

$706$927

Norton Shores

Population

24,46725,000

Median household income

$63,805$73,390

Median home value

$140,400$214,000

Median gross rent

$946$1,286

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Muskegon	Norton Shores
Under 5	6.1%	6.7%
5 to 17	16.5%	16.1%
18 to 24	11.3%	6.4%
25 to 34	15.0%	13.5%
35 to 44	13.1%	12.4%
45 to 54	10.6%	10.2%
55 to 64	12.9%	12.4%
65 to 74	9.0%	14.1%
75 and over	5.4%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Muskegon	Norton Shores
White (non-Hispanic)	51.6%	87.7%
Black or African American	29.9%	3.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.2%
Asian	0.7%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.2%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	11.0%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Muskegon	Norton Shores
No high school diploma	12.6%	4.6%
High school graduate	38.2%	23.6%
Some college or associate's	33.5%	38.6%
Bachelor's degree	11.8%	23.8%
Graduate or professional degree	3.9%	9.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Muskegon	Norton Shores
Drove alone	80.3%	81.1%
Carpooled	10.2%	7.8%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	2.5%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	5.0%	9.6%
Other means	1.4%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Muskegon	Norton Shores
1-unit, detached	64.7%	76.7%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	5.6%
2 to 4 units	11.9%	0.9%
5 to 19 units	6.8%	9.1%
20 or more units	12.1%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	6.5%

Poverty & households

	Muskegon	Norton Shores
Poverty rate	20.2%	5.8%
Average household size	2.37	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	21	21
Median year structure built	1949	1974