Ingham County vs Ottawa County

A side-by-side comparison of Ingham County and Ottawa County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ottawa County has the higher population (298,614 vs 282,015 in Ingham County). Ottawa County has the higher median household income ($87,144 vs $64,354 in Ingham County). Ottawa County has the higher median home value ($291,200 vs $187,500 in Ingham County).

Population, income & housing

	Ingham County	Ottawa County
Population	282,015	298,614
Median age	33.3 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$64,354	$87,144
Median home value	$187,500	$291,200
Median gross rent	$1,058	$1,148
Housing units	125,812	116,173
Homeownership rate	59.5%	78.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.3%	37.5%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ingham County	Ottawa County
Population	290,587 → 282,015 (-2.9%)	286,558 → 298,614 (+4.2%)
Median household income	$52,872 → $64,354 (+21.7%)	$69,314 → $87,144 (+25.7%)
Median home value	$135,600 → $187,500 (+38.3%)	$191,800 → $291,200 (+51.8%)
Median gross rent	$877 → $1,058 (+20.6%)	$898 → $1,148 (+27.8%)

Ingham County

Population

290,587282,015

Median household income

$52,872$64,354

Median home value

$135,600$187,500

Median gross rent

$877$1,058

Ottawa County

Population

286,558298,614

Median household income

$69,314$87,144

Median home value

$191,800$291,200

Median gross rent

$898$1,148

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ingham County	Ottawa County
Under 5	5.3%	5.7%
5 to 17	14.5%	17.7%
18 to 24	18.2%	13.0%
25 to 34	14.3%	12.2%
35 to 44	11.7%	12.3%
45 to 54	10.4%	11.0%
55 to 64	11.0%	12.0%
65 to 74	9.1%	9.5%
75 and over	5.5%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ingham County	Ottawa County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.4%	82.4%
Black or African American	11.2%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	6.2%	2.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.6%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	8.7%	10.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ingham County	Ottawa County
No high school diploma	6.5%	5.9%
High school graduate	21.2%	26.2%
Some college or associate's	31.0%	30.4%
Bachelor's degree	22.6%	24.5%
Graduate or professional degree	18.7%	13.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ingham County	Ottawa County
Drove alone	67.5%	78.8%
Carpooled	8.3%	7.7%
Public transit	2.5%	0.5%
Walked	4.4%	2.6%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	15.2%	9.4%
Other means	1.2%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ingham County	Ottawa County
1-unit, detached	60.7%	69.6%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	7.7%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	5.8%
5 to 19 units	15.4%	7.7%
20 or more units	10.5%	3.8%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	5.5%

Poverty & households

	Ingham County	Ottawa County
Poverty rate	16.4%	8.2%
Average household size	2.27	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1971	1987