Alpena County vs Oceana County

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

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

Alpena County has the higher population (28,908 vs 26,788 in Oceana County). Oceana County has the higher median household income ($63,624 vs $51,909 in Alpena County). Oceana County has the higher median home value ($167,600 vs $137,800 in Alpena County).

Population, income & housing

	Alpena County	Oceana County
Population	28,908	26,788
Median age	47.6 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$51,909	$63,624
Median home value	$137,800	$167,600
Median gross rent	$660	$768
Housing units	15,674	15,645
Homeownership rate	79.4%	85.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.7%	21.0%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	5.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alpena County	Oceana County
Population	28,520 → 28,908 (+1.4%)	26,416 → 26,788 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$43,363 → $51,909 (+19.7%)	$50,104 → $63,624 (+27.0%)
Median home value	$96,500 → $137,800 (+42.8%)	$118,800 → $167,600 (+41.1%)
Median gross rent	$596 → $660 (+10.7%)	$729 → $768 (+5.3%)

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

Oceana County

Population

26,41626,788

Median household income

$50,104$63,624

Median home value

$118,800$167,600

Median gross rent

$729$768

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alpena County	Oceana County
Under 5	4.6%	5.1%
5 to 17	14.2%	16.6%
18 to 24	6.5%	7.4%
25 to 34	11.1%	10.9%
35 to 44	11.0%	11.3%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.2%
55 to 64	16.4%	15.8%
65 to 74	14.3%	13.4%
75 and over	10.2%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alpena County	Oceana County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	80.3%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.5%
Asian	0.5%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.7%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.6%	15.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alpena County	Oceana County
No high school diploma	6.9%	9.4%
High school graduate	36.1%	37.6%
Some college or associate's	39.3%	32.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.3%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alpena County	Oceana County
Drove alone	77.5%	77.4%
Carpooled	7.8%	12.8%
Public transit	0.8%	0.2%
Walked	2.0%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.1%	6.4%
Other means	2.9%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alpena County	Oceana County
1-unit, detached	80.0%	78.1%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	0.2%
2 to 4 units	6.9%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	3.2%	1.8%
20 or more units	3.3%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	17.0%

Poverty & households

	Alpena County	Oceana County
Poverty rate	17.0%	13.3%
Average household size	2.23	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	18	24
Median year structure built	1968	1978