Norton Shores vs Wolf Lake

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

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

Norton Shores has the higher population (25,000 vs 4,802 in Wolf Lake). Norton Shores has the higher median household income ($73,390 vs $49,005 in Wolf Lake). Norton Shores has the higher median home value ($214,000 vs $99,800 in Wolf Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Norton Shores	Wolf Lake
Population	25,000	4,802
Median age	40.1 yrs	30.7 yrs
Median household income	$73,390	$49,005
Median home value	$214,000	$99,800
Median gross rent	$1,286	$992
Housing units	10,700	1,793
Homeownership rate	85.9%	92.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.2%	6.2%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	11.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Norton Shores	Wolf Lake
Population	24,467 → 25,000 (+2.2%)	3,884 → 4,802 (+23.6%)
Median household income	$63,805 → $73,390 (+15.0%)	$43,811 → $49,005 (+11.9%)
Median home value	$140,400 → $214,000 (+52.4%)	$89,100 → $99,800 (+12.0%)
Median gross rent	$946 → $1,286 (+35.9%)	$795 → $992 (+24.8%)

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

Wolf Lake

Population

3,8844,802

Median household income

$43,811$49,005

Median home value

$89,100$99,800

Median gross rent

$795$992

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Norton Shores	Wolf Lake
Under 5	6.7%	8.4%
5 to 17	16.1%	14.4%
18 to 24	6.4%	17.0%
25 to 34	13.5%	15.0%
35 to 44	12.4%	10.9%
45 to 54	10.2%	10.4%
55 to 64	12.4%	11.6%
65 to 74	14.1%	7.2%
75 and over	8.2%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Norton Shores	Wolf Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	87.7%	83.7%
Black or African American	3.9%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.8%
Asian	0.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.9%	10.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.3%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Norton Shores	Wolf Lake
No high school diploma	4.6%	13.7%
High school graduate	23.6%	45.1%
Some college or associate's	38.6%	34.9%
Bachelor's degree	23.8%	5.5%
Graduate or professional degree	9.4%	0.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Norton Shores	Wolf Lake
Drove alone	81.1%	83.5%
Carpooled	7.8%	13.0%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	0.5%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.5%
Worked from home	9.6%	3.0%
Other means	0.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Norton Shores	Wolf Lake
1-unit, detached	76.7%	63.9%
1-unit, attached	5.6%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	0.9%	1.1%
5 to 19 units	9.1%	0.0%
20 or more units	1.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.5%	34.5%

Poverty & households

	Norton Shores	Wolf Lake
Poverty rate	5.8%	14.6%
Average household size	2.54	2.70
Mean commute (minutes)	21	24
Median year structure built	1974	1975