Harper Woods vs Melvindale

A side-by-side comparison of Harper Woods and Melvindale: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Harper Woods has the higher population (15,205 vs 12,605 in Melvindale). Harper Woods has the higher median household income ($61,446 vs $41,356 in Melvindale). Harper Woods has the higher median home value ($143,600 vs $113,100 in Melvindale).

Population, income & housing

	Harper Woods	Melvindale
Population	15,205	12,605
Median age	37.1 yrs	31.6 yrs
Median household income	$61,446	$41,356
Median home value	$143,600	$113,100
Median gross rent	$1,306	$1,116
Housing units	5,906	4,693
Homeownership rate	66.0%	60.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.0%	15.0%
Unemployment rate	7.2%	7.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Harper Woods	Melvindale
Population	13,895 → 15,205 (+9.4%)	10,348 → 12,605 (+21.8%)
Median household income	$48,418 → $61,446 (+26.9%)	$41,629 → $41,356 (-0.7%)
Median home value	$83,600 → $143,600 (+71.8%)	$64,300 → $113,100 (+75.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,088 → $1,306 (+20.0%)	$856 → $1,116 (+30.4%)

Harper Woods

Population

13,89515,205

Median household income

$48,418$61,446

Median home value

$83,600$143,600

Median gross rent

$1,088$1,306

Melvindale

Population

10,34812,605

Median household income

$41,629$41,356

Median home value

$64,300$113,100

Median gross rent

$856$1,116

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Harper Woods	Melvindale
Under 5	5.6%	9.3%
5 to 17	21.1%	21.8%
18 to 24	7.6%	11.4%
25 to 34	14.1%	11.9%
35 to 44	12.9%	14.6%
45 to 54	14.5%	9.7%
55 to 64	10.3%	12.7%
65 to 74	9.2%	5.6%
75 and over	4.8%	3.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Harper Woods	Melvindale
White (non-Hispanic)	29.8%	62.5%
Black or African American	63.8%	12.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.0%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.6%	23.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Harper Woods	Melvindale
No high school diploma	6.6%	29.6%
High school graduate	30.7%	34.4%
Some college or associate's	37.7%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.6%	7.8%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Harper Woods	Melvindale
Drove alone	67.6%	64.0%
Carpooled	15.4%	27.4%
Public transit	1.8%	0.9%
Walked	0.9%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.2%	7.2%
Other means	4.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Harper Woods	Melvindale
1-unit, detached	87.2%	69.8%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	2.5%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	3.2%	15.5%
20 or more units	2.8%	6.2%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Harper Woods	Melvindale
Poverty rate	19.8%	34.4%
Average household size	2.69	2.91
Mean commute (minutes)	27	25
Median year structure built	1955	1949