Pontiac vs Royal Oak

A side-by-side comparison of Pontiac and Royal Oak: population, income, housing, and more.

Pontiac and Royal Oak are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Pontiac has the higher population (61,914 vs 57,880 in Royal Oak). Royal Oak has the higher median household income ($95,182 vs $42,791 in Pontiac). Royal Oak has the higher median home value ($305,900 vs $110,600 in Pontiac).

Population, income & housing

	Pontiac	Royal Oak
Population	61,914	57,880
Median age	35.5 yrs	36.9 yrs
Median household income	$42,791	$95,182
Median home value	$110,600	$305,900
Median gross rent	$1,007	$1,335
Housing units	28,276	31,227
Homeownership rate	44.2%	66.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.2%	62.6%
Unemployment rate	10.6%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pontiac	Royal Oak
Population	59,955 → 61,914 (+3.3%)	59,195 → 57,880 (-2.2%)
Median household income	$33,568 → $42,791 (+27.5%)	$81,665 → $95,182 (+16.6%)
Median home value	$67,100 → $110,600 (+64.8%)	$224,600 → $305,900 (+36.2%)
Median gross rent	$815 → $1,007 (+23.6%)	$1,079 → $1,335 (+23.7%)

Pontiac

Population

59,95561,914

Median household income

$33,568$42,791

Median home value

$67,100$110,600

Median gross rent

$815$1,007

Royal Oak

Population

59,19557,880

Median household income

$81,665$95,182

Median home value

$224,600$305,900

Median gross rent

$1,079$1,335

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Pontiac	Royal Oak
Under 5	7.2%	5.1%
5 to 17	16.9%	9.8%
18 to 24	9.5%	8.4%
25 to 34	15.5%	24.0%
35 to 44	12.8%	13.4%
45 to 54	13.1%	11.8%
55 to 64	12.0%	12.4%
65 to 74	8.2%	9.8%
75 and over	4.8%	5.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pontiac	Royal Oak
White (non-Hispanic)	22.4%	80.8%
Black or African American	46.0%	6.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	3.7%	3.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.2%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	21.7%	4.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pontiac	Royal Oak
No high school diploma	18.4%	3.5%
High school graduate	35.0%	11.9%
Some college or associate's	30.5%	22.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.2%	38.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	24.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pontiac	Royal Oak
Drove alone	73.2%	69.8%
Carpooled	16.3%	3.4%
Public transit	1.1%	0.2%
Walked	3.1%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	4.1%	24.2%
Other means	1.7%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pontiac	Royal Oak
1-unit, detached	61.0%	65.0%
1-unit, attached	4.8%	5.2%
2 to 4 units	9.6%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	12.0%	12.2%
20 or more units	10.8%	10.8%
Mobile home & other	1.8%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Pontiac	Royal Oak
Poverty rate	25.6%	6.0%
Average household size	2.35	1.96
Mean commute (minutes)	22	24
Median year structure built	1960	1956