Alpena County vs Mason County

A side-by-side comparison of Alpena County and Mason County: population, income, housing, and more.

Alpena County and Mason County are counties in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Mason County has the higher population (29,177 vs 28,908 in Alpena County). Mason County has the higher median household income ($62,296 vs $51,909 in Alpena County). Mason County has the higher median home value ($199,300 vs $137,800 in Alpena County).

Population, income & housing

	Alpena County	Mason County
Population	28,908	29,177
Median age	47.6 yrs	47.2 yrs
Median household income	$51,909	$62,296
Median home value	$137,800	$199,300
Median gross rent	$660	$840
Housing units	15,674	17,499
Homeownership rate	79.4%	78.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.7%	25.0%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alpena County	Mason County
Population	28,520 → 28,908 (+1.4%)	28,954 → 29,177 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$43,363 → $51,909 (+19.7%)	$51,725 → $62,296 (+20.4%)
Median home value	$96,500 → $137,800 (+42.8%)	$141,400 → $199,300 (+40.9%)
Median gross rent	$596 → $660 (+10.7%)	$698 → $840 (+20.3%)

Alpena County

Population

28,52028,908

Median household income

$43,363$51,909

Median home value

$96,500$137,800

Median gross rent

$596$660

Mason County

Population

28,95429,177

Median household income

$51,725$62,296

Median home value

$141,400$199,300

Median gross rent

$698$840

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alpena County	Mason County
Under 5	4.6%	4.6%
5 to 17	14.2%	15.3%
18 to 24	6.5%	6.7%
25 to 34	11.1%	10.8%
35 to 44	11.0%	10.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.0%
55 to 64	16.4%	15.5%
65 to 74	14.3%	15.7%
75 and over	10.2%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alpena County	Mason County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	89.9%
Black or African American	0.9%	1.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	0.5%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.7%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.6%	4.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alpena County	Mason County
No high school diploma	6.9%	6.6%
High school graduate	36.1%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	39.3%	35.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.3%	15.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	9.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alpena County	Mason County
Drove alone	77.5%	75.7%
Carpooled	7.8%	11.6%
Public transit	0.8%	0.4%
Walked	2.0%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.1%	9.2%
Other means	2.9%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alpena County	Mason County
1-unit, detached	80.0%	74.8%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	6.9%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	3.2%	5.0%
20 or more units	3.3%	3.2%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	11.2%

Poverty & households

	Alpena County	Mason County
Poverty rate	17.0%	14.6%
Average household size	2.23	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	18	20
Median year structure built	1968	1976