Bay County vs Grand Traverse County

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

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

Bay County has the higher population (103,235 vs 95,757 in Grand Traverse County). Grand Traverse County has the higher median household income ($79,486 vs $60,523 in Bay County). Grand Traverse County has the higher median home value ($296,200 vs $135,100 in Bay County).

Population, income & housing

	Bay County	Grand Traverse County
Population	103,235	95,757
Median age	43.8 yrs	43.1 yrs
Median household income	$60,523	$79,486
Median home value	$135,100	$296,200
Median gross rent	$809	$1,215
Housing units	48,620	46,435
Homeownership rate	76.4%	76.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.4%	40.3%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bay County	Grand Traverse County
Population	104,104 → 103,235 (-0.8%)	92,181 → 95,757 (+3.9%)
Median household income	$48,819 → $60,523 (+24.0%)	$63,575 → $79,486 (+25.0%)
Median home value	$102,000 → $135,100 (+32.5%)	$212,500 → $296,200 (+39.4%)
Median gross rent	$663 → $809 (+22.0%)	$951 → $1,215 (+27.8%)

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

Grand Traverse County

Population

92,18195,757

Median household income

$63,575$79,486

Median home value

$212,500$296,200

Median gross rent

$951$1,215

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bay County	Grand Traverse County
Under 5	4.7%	4.8%
5 to 17	15.1%	14.9%
18 to 24	7.4%	7.5%
25 to 34	12.1%	12.3%
35 to 44	12.0%	12.3%
45 to 54	12.4%	12.1%
55 to 64	15.0%	14.8%
65 to 74	12.7%	13.1%
75 and over	8.6%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bay County	Grand Traverse County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.6%	91.3%
Black or African American	1.3%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.5%
Asian	0.4%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	5.8%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bay County	Grand Traverse County
No high school diploma	8.2%	4.9%
High school graduate	33.7%	21.7%
Some college or associate's	36.7%	33.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.5%	23.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	16.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bay County	Grand Traverse County
Drove alone	83.0%	71.3%
Carpooled	6.6%	9.9%
Public transit	0.3%	0.8%
Walked	1.4%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.5%	1.3%
Worked from home	7.4%	13.7%
Other means	0.7%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bay County	Grand Traverse County
1-unit, detached	76.4%	72.5%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	4.4%
5 to 19 units	4.5%	6.6%
20 or more units	5.1%	5.4%
Mobile home & other	4.7%	6.8%

Poverty & households

	Bay County	Grand Traverse County
Poverty rate	14.0%	8.6%
Average household size	2.27	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	23	21
Median year structure built	1962	1986