Houghton County vs Sanilac County

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

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

Sanilac County has the higher population (40,574 vs 37,428 in Houghton County). Sanilac County has the higher median household income ($59,074 vs $56,573 in Houghton County). Sanilac County has the higher median home value ($162,200 vs $140,300 in Houghton County).

Population, income & housing

	Houghton County	Sanilac County
Population	37,428	40,574
Median age	32.3 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$56,573	$59,074
Median home value	$140,300	$162,200
Median gross rent	$767	$814
Housing units	18,781	21,751
Homeownership rate	71.2%	81.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.6%	16.0%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Houghton County	Sanilac County
Population	36,070 → 37,428 (+3.8%)	41,295 → 40,574 (-1.7%)
Median household income	$43,183 → $56,573 (+31.0%)	$47,672 → $59,074 (+23.9%)
Median home value	$108,700 → $140,300 (+29.1%)	$111,200 → $162,200 (+45.9%)
Median gross rent	$640 → $767 (+19.8%)	$678 → $814 (+20.1%)

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

Sanilac County

Population

41,29540,574

Median household income

$47,672$59,074

Median home value

$111,200$162,200

Median gross rent

$678$814

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Houghton County	Sanilac County
Under 5	4.8%	5.0%
5 to 17	15.1%	16.2%
18 to 24	22.0%	7.2%
25 to 34	10.9%	10.5%
35 to 44	9.5%	10.7%
45 to 54	8.9%	12.0%
55 to 64	11.1%	15.7%
65 to 74	10.3%	13.6%
75 and over	7.4%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Houghton County	Sanilac County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.2%	92.4%
Black or African American	1.1%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.1%
Asian	2.8%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.7%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.8%	4.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Houghton County	Sanilac County
No high school diploma	5.5%	9.3%
High school graduate	29.0%	41.7%
Some college or associate's	29.0%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	20.5%	10.3%
Graduate or professional degree	16.1%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Houghton County	Sanilac County
Drove alone	65.4%	77.3%
Carpooled	9.9%	9.2%
Public transit	2.1%	0.3%
Walked	10.4%	3.9%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.7%	8.0%
Other means	1.4%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Houghton County	Sanilac County
1-unit, detached	76.9%	82.1%
1-unit, attached	2.0%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	5.2%	3.0%
20 or more units	4.8%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	4.5%	10.1%

Poverty & households

	Houghton County	Sanilac County
Poverty rate	15.9%	14.0%
Average household size	2.34	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	16	28
Median year structure built	1959	1970