Clare County vs Emmet County

A side-by-side comparison of Clare County and Emmet County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Emmet County has the higher population (34,159 vs 31,109 in Clare County). Emmet County has the higher median household income ($73,724 vs $49,805 in Clare County). Emmet County has the higher median home value ($275,300 vs $117,400 in Clare County).

Population, income & housing

	Clare County	Emmet County
Population	31,109	34,159
Median age	48.3 yrs	46.4 yrs
Median household income	$49,805	$73,724
Median home value	$117,400	$275,300
Median gross rent	$743	$1,033
Housing units	21,953	21,886
Homeownership rate	86.2%	76.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.0%	40.2%
Unemployment rate	8.5%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clare County	Emmet County
Population	30,651 → 31,109 (+1.5%)	33,104 → 34,159 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$39,565 → $49,805 (+25.9%)	$55,829 → $73,724 (+32.1%)
Median home value	$91,100 → $117,400 (+28.9%)	$186,900 → $275,300 (+47.3%)
Median gross rent	$647 → $743 (+14.8%)	$818 → $1,033 (+26.3%)

Clare County

Population

30,65131,109

Median household income

$39,565$49,805

Median home value

$91,100$117,400

Median gross rent

$647$743

Emmet County

Population

33,10434,159

Median household income

$55,829$73,724

Median home value

$186,900$275,300

Median gross rent

$818$1,033

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clare County	Emmet County
Under 5	5.0%	4.3%
5 to 17	14.9%	14.0%
18 to 24	6.4%	7.5%
25 to 34	10.5%	11.2%
35 to 44	10.0%	11.4%
45 to 54	12.0%	11.8%
55 to 64	16.6%	15.6%
65 to 74	15.4%	14.9%
75 and over	9.3%	9.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clare County	Emmet County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.7%	89.3%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	1.7%
Asian	0.4%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.7%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	2.2%	2.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clare County	Emmet County
No high school diploma	11.8%	4.0%
High school graduate	40.8%	24.6%
Some college or associate's	34.3%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	7.7%	23.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	17.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clare County	Emmet County
Drove alone	74.4%	74.4%
Carpooled	10.6%	9.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.4%
Walked	2.8%	4.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	10.1%	9.3%
Other means	1.5%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clare County	Emmet County
1-unit, detached	77.9%	72.6%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	1.4%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	8.9%
20 or more units	1.1%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	16.6%	6.3%

Poverty & households

	Clare County	Emmet County
Poverty rate	21.1%	9.3%
Average household size	2.53	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	29	20
Median year structure built	1976	1985