Freeland vs Shields

A side-by-side comparison of Freeland and Shields: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Freeland has the higher population (7,562 vs 7,276 in Shields). Freeland has the higher median household income ($103,431 vs $83,986 in Shields). Freeland has the higher median home value ($241,400 vs $173,300 in Shields).

Population, income & housing

	Freeland	Shields
Population	7,562	7,276
Median age	37.6 yrs	48.6 yrs
Median household income	$103,431	$83,986
Median home value	$241,400	$173,300
Median gross rent	$1,235	$937
Housing units	2,213	3,211
Homeownership rate	81.2%	83.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.1%	32.0%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Freeland	Shields
Population	6,898 → 7,562 (+9.6%)	5,945 → 7,276 (+22.4%)
Median household income	$83,889 → $103,431 (+23.3%)	$61,250 → $83,986 (+37.1%)
Median home value	$164,800 → $241,400 (+46.5%)	$125,200 → $173,300 (+38.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,104 → $1,235 (+11.9%)	$770 → $937 (+21.7%)

Freeland

Population

6,8987,562

Median household income

$83,889$103,431

Median home value

$164,800$241,400

Median gross rent

$1,104$1,235

Shields

Population

5,9457,276

Median household income

$61,250$83,986

Median home value

$125,200$173,300

Median gross rent

$770$937

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Freeland	Shields
Under 5	6.0%	4.1%
5 to 17	17.0%	13.1%
18 to 24	7.1%	7.6%
25 to 34	17.7%	5.3%
35 to 44	13.4%	13.5%
45 to 54	15.3%	15.2%
55 to 64	11.8%	12.9%
65 to 74	6.5%	16.2%
75 and over	5.1%	12.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Freeland	Shields
White (non-Hispanic)	77.2%	89.9%
Black or African American	9.0%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.1%
Asian	0.9%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.4%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	4.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Freeland	Shields
No high school diploma	6.9%	7.1%
High school graduate	30.3%	29.5%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	31.4%
Bachelor's degree	19.9%	15.5%
Graduate or professional degree	11.2%	16.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Freeland	Shields
Drove alone	80.3%	86.6%
Carpooled	3.6%	3.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.6%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.4%	7.9%
Other means	1.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Freeland	Shields
1-unit, detached	73.2%	72.4%
1-unit, attached	11.7%	9.4%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	1.4%
5 to 19 units	4.7%	10.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	5.2%
Mobile home & other	5.4%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Freeland	Shields
Poverty rate	5.4%	13.2%
Average household size	2.78	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	18	22
Median year structure built	1994	1976