Bay County vs Eaton County

A side-by-side comparison of Bay County and Eaton County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Eaton County has the higher population (109,000 vs 103,235 in Bay County). Eaton County has the higher median household income ($78,025 vs $60,523 in Bay County). Eaton County has the higher median home value ($206,700 vs $135,100 in Bay County).

Population, income & housing

	Bay County	Eaton County
Population	103,235	109,000
Median age	43.8 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$60,523	$78,025
Median home value	$135,100	$206,700
Median gross rent	$809	$1,042
Housing units	48,620	47,650
Homeownership rate	76.4%	74.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.4%	30.4%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bay County	Eaton County
Population	104,104 → 103,235 (-0.8%)	109,456 → 109,000 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$48,819 → $60,523 (+24.0%)	$64,348 → $78,025 (+21.3%)
Median home value	$102,000 → $135,100 (+32.5%)	$155,000 → $206,700 (+33.4%)
Median gross rent	$663 → $809 (+22.0%)	$858 → $1,042 (+21.4%)

Bay County

Population

104,104103,235

Median household income

$48,819$60,523

Median home value

$102,000$135,100

Median gross rent

$663$809

Eaton County

Population

109,456109,000

Median household income

$64,348$78,025

Median home value

$155,000$206,700

Median gross rent

$858$1,042

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bay County	Eaton County
Under 5	4.7%	5.2%
5 to 17	15.1%	15.4%
18 to 24	7.4%	8.0%
25 to 34	12.1%	13.0%
35 to 44	12.0%	12.6%
45 to 54	12.4%	12.0%
55 to 64	15.0%	14.2%
65 to 74	12.7%	11.8%
75 and over	8.6%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bay County	Eaton County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.6%	80.6%
Black or African American	1.3%	6.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.4%	2.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.8%	6.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bay County	Eaton County
No high school diploma	8.2%	5.5%
High school graduate	33.7%	27.4%
Some college or associate's	36.7%	36.7%
Bachelor's degree	14.5%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	10.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bay County	Eaton County
Drove alone	83.0%	74.0%
Carpooled	6.6%	8.8%
Public transit	0.3%	0.7%
Walked	1.4%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.4%	13.8%
Other means	0.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bay County	Eaton County
1-unit, detached	76.4%	69.4%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	4.1%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	4.7%
5 to 19 units	4.5%	10.6%
20 or more units	5.1%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	4.7%	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Bay County	Eaton County
Poverty rate	14.0%	7.7%
Average household size	2.27	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	23	23
Median year structure built	1962	1976