Skidway Lake vs West Branch

A side-by-side comparison of Skidway Lake and West Branch: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Skidway Lake has the higher population (2,800 vs 2,177 in West Branch). West Branch has the higher median household income ($40,078 vs $34,320 in Skidway Lake). West Branch has the higher median home value ($114,300 vs $53,700 in Skidway Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Skidway Lake	West Branch
Population	2,800	2,177
Median age	42.5 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$34,320	$40,078
Median home value	$53,700	$114,300
Median gross rent	$844	$847
Housing units	2,324	1,134
Homeownership rate	84.2%	37.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	6.1%	21.5%
Unemployment rate	16.7%	7.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Skidway Lake	West Branch
Population	3,369 → 2,800 (-16.9%)	2,177 → 2,177 (+0.0%)
Median household income	$29,688 → $34,320 (+15.6%)	$29,206 → $40,078 (+37.2%)
Median home value	$51,600 → $53,700 (+4.1%)	$78,800 → $114,300 (+45.1%)
Median gross rent	$641 → $844 (+31.7%)	$674 → $847 (+25.7%)

Skidway Lake

Population

3,3692,800

Median household income

$29,688$34,320

Median home value

$51,600$53,700

Median gross rent

$641$844

West Branch

Population

2,1772,177

Median household income

$29,206$40,078

Median home value

$78,800$114,300

Median gross rent

$674$847

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Skidway Lake	West Branch
Under 5	6.1%	3.6%
5 to 17	17.7%	17.2%
18 to 24	7.6%	11.3%
25 to 34	11.6%	9.4%
35 to 44	11.3%	14.5%
45 to 54	8.3%	9.2%
55 to 64	17.2%	8.2%
65 to 74	13.1%	14.0%
75 and over	7.1%	12.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Skidway Lake	West Branch
White (non-Hispanic)	93.6%	86.4%
Black or African American	0.9%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	4.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.6%	4.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Skidway Lake	West Branch
No high school diploma	17.8%	8.0%
High school graduate	42.8%	34.0%
Some college or associate's	33.2%	36.5%
Bachelor's degree	3.0%	14.9%
Graduate or professional degree	3.1%	6.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Skidway Lake	West Branch
Drove alone	89.3%	78.1%
Carpooled	3.0%	13.6%
Public transit	0.0%	1.6%
Walked	1.6%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.9%
Worked from home	4.7%	2.0%
Other means	1.4%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Skidway Lake	West Branch
1-unit, detached	85.5%	52.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	5.7%
2 to 4 units	1.0%	12.5%
5 to 19 units	0.5%	15.7%
20 or more units	1.9%	13.5%
Mobile home & other	11.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Skidway Lake	West Branch
Poverty rate	37.9%	24.2%
Average household size	2.34	2.01
Mean commute (minutes)	39	25
Median year structure built	1973	1973