Highland Park vs River Rouge

A side-by-side comparison of Highland Park and River Rouge: population, income, housing, and more.

Highland Park and River Rouge are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Highland Park has the higher population (8,798 vs 7,092 in River Rouge). River Rouge has the higher median household income ($32,568 vs $27,582 in Highland Park). Highland Park has the higher median home value ($75,800 vs $55,900 in River Rouge).

Population, income & housing

	Highland Park	River Rouge
Population	8,798	7,092
Median age	45.1 yrs	36.6 yrs
Median household income	$27,582	$32,568
Median home value	$75,800	$55,900
Median gross rent	$691	$759
Housing units	5,693	3,462
Homeownership rate	45.4%	52.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.0%	7.1%
Unemployment rate	17.9%	9.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Highland Park	River Rouge
Population	10,867 → 8,798 (-19.0%)	7,502 → 7,092 (-5.5%)
Median household income	$18,474 → $27,582 (+49.3%)	$25,517 → $32,568 (+27.6%)
Median home value	$45,700 → $75,800 (+65.9%)	$36,300 → $55,900 (+54.0%)
Median gross rent	$596 → $691 (+15.9%)	$585 → $759 (+29.7%)

Highland Park

Population

10,8678,798

Median household income

$18,474$27,582

Median home value

$45,700$75,800

Median gross rent

$596$691

River Rouge

Population

7,5027,092

Median household income

$25,517$32,568

Median home value

$36,300$55,900

Median gross rent

$585$759

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Highland Park	River Rouge
Under 5	4.7%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.1%	15.6%
18 to 24	9.4%	9.4%
25 to 34	10.8%	18.3%
35 to 44	9.8%	10.1%
45 to 54	10.1%	13.7%
55 to 64	16.9%	16.0%
65 to 74	13.4%	8.6%
75 and over	9.7%	3.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Highland Park	River Rouge
White (non-Hispanic)	9.2%	34.1%
Black or African American	85.8%	44.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.6%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	15.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Highland Park	River Rouge
No high school diploma	16.0%	22.4%
High school graduate	30.9%	42.3%
Some college or associate's	36.1%	28.2%
Bachelor's degree	9.5%	5.1%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	2.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Highland Park	River Rouge
Drove alone	64.4%	78.9%
Carpooled	8.6%	7.0%
Public transit	12.3%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.0%	8.7%
Other means	3.2%	3.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Highland Park	River Rouge
1-unit, detached	52.8%	60.8%
1-unit, attached	4.1%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	13.6%	19.2%
5 to 19 units	8.3%	10.6%
20 or more units	21.1%	3.7%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Highland Park	River Rouge
Poverty rate	41.2%	40.0%
Average household size	2.17	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	24	22
Median year structure built	1948	1944