Iron County vs Mackinac County

A side-by-side comparison of Iron County and Mackinac County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Iron County has the higher population (11,650 vs 10,865 in Mackinac County). Mackinac County has the higher median household income ($58,598 vs $53,614 in Iron County). Mackinac County has the higher median home value ($165,600 vs $101,500 in Iron County).

Population, income & housing

	Iron County	Mackinac County
Population	11,650	10,865
Median age	53.2 yrs	53.3 yrs
Median household income	$53,614	$58,598
Median home value	$101,500	$165,600
Median gross rent	$510	$761
Housing units	9,046	10,575
Homeownership rate	85.3%	77.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.6%	23.5%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	9.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Iron County	Mackinac County
Population	11,152 → 11,650 (+4.5%)	10,780 → 10,865 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$41,599 → $53,614 (+28.9%)	$47,938 → $58,598 (+22.2%)
Median home value	$77,700 → $101,500 (+30.6%)	$136,600 → $165,600 (+21.2%)
Median gross rent	$513 → $510 (-0.6%)	$602 → $761 (+26.4%)

Iron County

Population

11,15211,650

Median household income

$41,599$53,614

Median home value

$77,700$101,500

Median gross rent

$513$510

Mackinac County

Population

10,78010,865

Median household income

$47,938$58,598

Median home value

$136,600$165,600

Median gross rent

$602$761

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Iron County	Mackinac County
Under 5	4.1%	4.0%
5 to 17	13.3%	11.2%
18 to 24	5.1%	6.0%
25 to 34	8.3%	10.4%
35 to 44	10.0%	9.4%
45 to 54	10.6%	12.4%
55 to 64	17.6%	17.6%
65 to 74	18.2%	17.6%
75 and over	12.7%	11.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Iron County	Mackinac County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.5%	71.8%
Black or African American	0.8%	4.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.1%	14.1%
Asian	0.6%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.6%	6.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.1%	2.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Iron County	Mackinac County
No high school diploma	6.6%	7.8%
High school graduate	41.0%	37.9%
Some college or associate's	31.8%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	15.0%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Iron County	Mackinac County
Drove alone	79.6%	66.8%
Carpooled	6.7%	6.3%
Public transit	0.0%	7.6%
Walked	3.4%	5.2%
Bicycle	0.3%	2.9%
Worked from home	7.9%	9.5%
Other means	2.1%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Iron County	Mackinac County
1-unit, detached	88.0%	81.6%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	1.0%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	2.3%	4.9%
20 or more units	2.0%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	4.4%	7.6%

Poverty & households

	Iron County	Mackinac County
Poverty rate	16.9%	16.9%
Average household size	2.11	2.05
Mean commute (minutes)	20	23
Median year structure built	1962	1975