Berrien County vs Muskegon County

A side-by-side comparison of Berrien County and Muskegon County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Muskegon County has the higher population (175,378 vs 153,411 in Berrien County). Muskegon County has the higher median household income ($63,495 vs $63,152 in Berrien County). Berrien County has the higher median home value ($211,400 vs $180,900 in Muskegon County).

Population, income & housing

	Berrien County	Muskegon County
Population	153,411	175,378
Median age	42.6 yrs	39.9 yrs
Median household income	$63,152	$63,495
Median home value	$211,400	$180,900
Median gross rent	$923	$960
Housing units	77,127	74,969
Homeownership rate	72.8%	78.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.2%	21.4%
Unemployment rate	6.5%	6.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Berrien County	Muskegon County
Population	154,133 → 153,411 (-0.5%)	173,297 → 175,378 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$50,795 → $63,152 (+24.3%)	$50,854 → $63,495 (+24.9%)
Median home value	$150,700 → $211,400 (+40.3%)	$117,900 → $180,900 (+53.4%)
Median gross rent	$743 → $923 (+24.2%)	$760 → $960 (+26.3%)

Berrien County

Population

154,133153,411

Median household income

$50,795$63,152

Median home value

$150,700$211,400

Median gross rent

$743$923

Muskegon County

Population

173,297175,378

Median household income

$50,854$63,495

Median home value

$117,900$180,900

Median gross rent

$760$960

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Berrien County	Muskegon County
Under 5	5.4%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.2%	16.9%
18 to 24	8.1%	8.1%
25 to 34	11.3%	13.1%
35 to 44	11.8%	12.5%
45 to 54	11.9%	11.8%
55 to 64	14.4%	13.8%
65 to 74	12.3%	11.1%
75 and over	8.5%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Berrien County	Muskegon County
White (non-Hispanic)	73.2%	75.3%
Black or African American	13.4%	12.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.5%
Asian	1.7%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.7%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	6.1%	6.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Berrien County	Muskegon County
No high school diploma	7.7%	7.5%
High school graduate	27.9%	34.7%
Some college or associate's	34.2%	36.4%
Bachelor's degree	18.0%	15.0%
Graduate or professional degree	12.2%	6.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Berrien County	Muskegon County
Drove alone	77.4%	82.5%
Carpooled	8.2%	9.2%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	2.7%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	10.2%	6.0%
Other means	1.0%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Berrien County	Muskegon County
1-unit, detached	77.2%	77.4%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	4.1%
5 to 19 units	5.2%	4.9%
20 or more units	4.2%	4.3%
Mobile home & other	4.1%	6.9%

Poverty & households

	Berrien County	Muskegon County
Poverty rate	15.2%	12.6%
Average household size	2.36	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	21	22
Median year structure built	1966	1968