Clare County vs Mason County

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

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

Clare County has the higher population (31,109 vs 29,177 in Mason County). Mason County has the higher median household income ($62,296 vs $49,805 in Clare County). Mason County has the higher median home value ($199,300 vs $117,400 in Clare County).

Population, income & housing

	Clare County	Mason County
Population	31,109	29,177
Median age	48.3 yrs	47.2 yrs
Median household income	$49,805	$62,296
Median home value	$117,400	$199,300
Median gross rent	$743	$840
Housing units	21,953	17,499
Homeownership rate	86.2%	78.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.0%	25.0%
Unemployment rate	8.5%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Clare County	Mason County
Population	30,651 → 31,109 (+1.5%)	28,954 → 29,177 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$39,565 → $49,805 (+25.9%)	$51,725 → $62,296 (+20.4%)
Median home value	$91,100 → $117,400 (+28.9%)	$141,400 → $199,300 (+40.9%)
Median gross rent	$647 → $743 (+14.8%)	$698 → $840 (+20.3%)

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

Mason County

Population

28,95429,177

Median household income

$51,725$62,296

Median home value

$141,400$199,300

Median gross rent

$698$840

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Clare County	Mason County
Under 5	5.0%	4.6%
5 to 17	14.9%	15.3%
18 to 24	6.4%	6.7%
25 to 34	10.5%	10.8%
35 to 44	10.0%	10.6%
45 to 54	12.0%	11.0%
55 to 64	16.6%	15.5%
65 to 74	15.4%	15.7%
75 and over	9.3%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Clare County	Mason County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.7%	89.9%
Black or African American	0.4%	1.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.3%
Asian	0.4%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.7%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.2%	4.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Clare County	Mason County
No high school diploma	11.8%	6.6%
High school graduate	40.8%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	34.3%	35.0%
Bachelor's degree	7.7%	15.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	9.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Clare County	Mason County
Drove alone	74.4%	75.7%
Carpooled	10.6%	11.6%
Public transit	0.2%	0.4%
Walked	2.8%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	10.1%	9.2%
Other means	1.5%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Clare County	Mason County
1-unit, detached	77.9%	74.8%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	1.4%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	5.0%
20 or more units	1.1%	3.2%
Mobile home & other	16.6%	11.2%

Poverty & households

	Clare County	Mason County
Poverty rate	21.1%	14.6%
Average household size	2.53	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	29	20
Median year structure built	1976	1976