Birch Run vs Merrill

A side-by-side comparison of Birch Run and Merrill: population, income, housing, and more.

Birch Run and Merrill are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Birch Run has the higher population (1,236 vs 825 in Merrill). Birch Run has the higher median household income ($65,313 vs $47,000 in Merrill). Birch Run has the higher median home value ($185,900 vs $89,700 in Merrill).

Population, income & housing

	Birch Run	Merrill
Population	1,236	825
Median age	41.8 yrs	38.4 yrs
Median household income	$65,313	$47,000
Median home value	$185,900	$89,700
Median gross rent	$931	$722
Housing units	639	278
Homeownership rate	51.2%	77.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.1%	13.2%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	24.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Birch Run	Merrill
Population	1,499 → 1,236 (-17.5%)	761 → 825 (+8.4%)
Median household income	$45,938 → $65,313 (+42.2%)	$42,250 → $47,000 (+11.2%)
Median home value	$99,700 → $185,900 (+86.5%)	$79,300 → $89,700 (+13.1%)
Median gross rent	$818 → $931 (+13.8%)	$711 → $722 (+1.5%)

Birch Run

Population

1,4991,236

Median household income

$45,938$65,313

Median home value

$99,700$185,900

Median gross rent

$818$931

Merrill

Population

761825

Median household income

$42,250$47,000

Median home value

$79,300$89,700

Median gross rent

$711$722

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Birch Run	Merrill
Under 5	3.7%	2.1%
5 to 17	14.3%	26.2%
18 to 24	10.8%	6.7%
25 to 34	13.5%	9.2%
35 to 44	9.6%	13.8%
45 to 54	9.4%	10.5%
55 to 64	25.2%	12.4%
65 to 74	8.5%	5.5%
75 and over	4.9%	13.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Birch Run	Merrill
White (non-Hispanic)	92.5%	66.4%
Black or African American	1.5%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.2%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	29.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Birch Run	Merrill
No high school diploma	5.1%	2.2%
High school graduate	30.5%	58.8%
Some college or associate's	48.3%	25.7%
Bachelor's degree	13.1%	8.4%
Graduate or professional degree	3.1%	4.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Birch Run	Merrill
Drove alone	87.6%	89.3%
Carpooled	5.7%	4.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.7%	3.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.6%	3.2%
Other means	0.5%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Birch Run	Merrill
1-unit, detached	49.8%	92.1%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.8%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	24.4%	3.2%
20 or more units	2.5%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	11.3%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Birch Run	Merrill
Poverty rate	9.9%	27.9%
Average household size	2.12	3.18
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1978	1952