Arenac County vs Benzie County

A side-by-side comparison of Arenac County and Benzie County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Benzie County has the higher population (18,177 vs 15,054 in Arenac County). Benzie County has the higher median household income ($72,603 vs $56,989 in Arenac County). Benzie County has the higher median home value ($254,400 vs $129,000 in Arenac County).

Population, income & housing

	Arenac County	Benzie County
Population	15,054	18,177
Median age	50.1 yrs	50.6 yrs
Median household income	$56,989	$72,603
Median home value	$129,000	$254,400
Median gross rent	$741	$974
Housing units	9,536	12,231
Homeownership rate	85.7%	87.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.8%	34.3%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Arenac County	Benzie County
Population	15,070 → 15,054 (-0.1%)	17,615 → 18,177 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$42,290 → $56,989 (+34.8%)	$57,974 → $72,603 (+25.2%)
Median home value	$94,400 → $129,000 (+36.7%)	$185,500 → $254,400 (+37.1%)
Median gross rent	$604 → $741 (+22.7%)	$702 → $974 (+38.7%)

Arenac County

Population

15,07015,054

Median household income

$42,290$56,989

Median home value

$94,400$129,000

Median gross rent

$604$741

Benzie County

Population

17,61518,177

Median household income

$57,974$72,603

Median home value

$185,500$254,400

Median gross rent

$702$974

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Arenac County	Benzie County
Under 5	4.6%	4.3%
5 to 17	13.9%	12.9%
18 to 24	6.1%	6.2%
25 to 34	9.8%	10.3%
35 to 44	10.2%	10.7%
45 to 54	11.3%	11.3%
55 to 64	17.6%	16.6%
65 to 74	16.7%	16.4%
75 and over	9.7%	11.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Arenac County	Benzie County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.2%	91.6%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	1.3%
Asian	0.1%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.3%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	2.1%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Arenac County	Benzie County
No high school diploma	11.4%	6.1%
High school graduate	36.1%	26.7%
Some college or associate's	36.7%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	10.5%	21.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Arenac County	Benzie County
Drove alone	80.7%	78.4%
Carpooled	7.7%	8.4%
Public transit	0.3%	0.8%
Walked	2.5%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.9%	10.5%
Other means	1.3%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Arenac County	Benzie County
1-unit, detached	81.7%	86.3%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	1.7%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	2.3%	2.1%
20 or more units	1.4%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	11.9%	7.3%

Poverty & households

	Arenac County	Benzie County
Poverty rate	13.4%	10.2%
Average household size	2.32	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	27	25
Median year structure built	1977	1985