Houghton Lake vs St. Helen

A side-by-side comparison of Houghton Lake and St. Helen: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Houghton Lake has the higher population (5,761 vs 2,841 in St. Helen). Houghton Lake has the higher median household income ($50,861 vs $42,091 in St. Helen). Houghton Lake has the higher median home value ($122,800 vs $85,300 in St. Helen).

Population, income & housing

	Houghton Lake	St. Helen
Population	5,761	2,841
Median age	54.5 yrs	54.6 yrs
Median household income	$50,861	$42,091
Median home value	$122,800	$85,300
Median gross rent	$791	$728
Housing units	4,514	2,471
Homeownership rate	79.5%	82.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.4%	9.5%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	7.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Houghton Lake	St. Helen
Population	3,350 → 5,761 (+72.0%)	2,671 → 2,841 (+6.4%)
Median household income	$28,816 → $50,861 (+76.5%)	$33,629 → $42,091 (+25.2%)
Median home value	$88,500 → $122,800 (+38.8%)	$57,400 → $85,300 (+48.6%)
Median gross rent	$634 → $791 (+24.8%)	$610 → $728 (+19.3%)

Houghton Lake

Population

3,3505,761

Median household income

$28,816$50,861

Median home value

$88,500$122,800

Median gross rent

$634$791

St. Helen

Population

2,6712,841

Median household income

$33,629$42,091

Median home value

$57,400$85,300

Median gross rent

$610$728

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Houghton Lake	St. Helen
Under 5	4.1%	4.4%
5 to 17	11.8%	10.2%
18 to 24	5.2%	3.7%
25 to 34	8.8%	14.4%
35 to 44	10.0%	5.6%
45 to 54	10.9%	12.4%
55 to 64	17.3%	19.4%
65 to 74	19.0%	18.0%
75 and over	12.9%	12.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Houghton Lake	St. Helen
White (non-Hispanic)	94.8%	90.1%
Black or African American	0.5%	1.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.5%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	2.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Houghton Lake	St. Helen
No high school diploma	10.3%	16.0%
High school graduate	33.3%	40.1%
Some college or associate's	39.0%	34.4%
Bachelor's degree	8.3%	6.8%
Graduate or professional degree	9.0%	2.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Houghton Lake	St. Helen
Drove alone	66.8%	79.4%
Carpooled	17.8%	11.4%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	2.4%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	2.9%
Worked from home	12.8%	2.5%
Other means	0.0%	2.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Houghton Lake	St. Helen
1-unit, detached	85.0%	92.1%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	1.1%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	0.2%
20 or more units	0.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	11.4%	6.0%

Poverty & households

	Houghton Lake	St. Helen
Poverty rate	21.7%	25.8%
Average household size	2.05	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	25	29
Median year structure built	1975	1972