Houghton County vs Mecosta County

A side-by-side comparison of Houghton County and Mecosta County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mecosta County has the higher population (40,321 vs 37,428 in Houghton County). Mecosta County has the higher median household income ($57,774 vs $56,573 in Houghton County). Mecosta County has the higher median home value ($169,900 vs $140,300 in Houghton County).

Population, income & housing

	Houghton County	Mecosta County
Population	37,428	40,321
Median age	32.3 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$56,573	$57,774
Median home value	$140,300	$169,900
Median gross rent	$767	$867
Housing units	18,781	21,045
Homeownership rate	71.2%	75.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.6%	22.7%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Houghton County	Mecosta County
Population	36,070 → 37,428 (+3.8%)	43,251 → 40,321 (-6.8%)
Median household income	$43,183 → $56,573 (+31.0%)	$45,018 → $57,774 (+28.3%)
Median home value	$108,700 → $140,300 (+29.1%)	$121,400 → $169,900 (+40.0%)
Median gross rent	$640 → $767 (+19.8%)	$712 → $867 (+21.8%)

Houghton County

Population

36,07037,428

Median household income

$43,183$56,573

Median home value

$108,700$140,300

Median gross rent

$640$767

Mecosta County

Population

43,25140,321

Median household income

$45,018$57,774

Median home value

$121,400$169,900

Median gross rent

$712$867

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Houghton County	Mecosta County
Under 5	4.8%	5.2%
5 to 17	15.1%	14.4%
18 to 24	22.0%	14.0%
25 to 34	10.9%	10.6%
35 to 44	9.5%	10.4%
45 to 54	8.9%	10.7%
55 to 64	11.1%	14.5%
65 to 74	10.3%	12.4%
75 and over	7.4%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Houghton County	Mecosta County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.2%	90.0%
Black or African American	1.1%	2.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.7%
Asian	2.8%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.7%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.8%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Houghton County	Mecosta County
No high school diploma	5.5%	8.3%
High school graduate	29.0%	36.7%
Some college or associate's	29.0%	32.4%
Bachelor's degree	20.5%	14.6%
Graduate or professional degree	16.1%	8.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Houghton County	Mecosta County
Drove alone	65.4%	78.0%
Carpooled	9.9%	8.3%
Public transit	2.1%	0.5%
Walked	10.4%	5.0%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.7%	6.7%
Other means	1.4%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Houghton County	Mecosta County
1-unit, detached	76.9%	70.2%
1-unit, attached	2.0%	1.3%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	5.0%
5 to 19 units	5.2%	4.7%
20 or more units	4.8%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	4.5%	17.3%

Poverty & households

	Houghton County	Mecosta County
Poverty rate	15.9%	19.2%
Average household size	2.34	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	16	24
Median year structure built	1959	1980