Isabella County vs Shiawassee County

A side-by-side comparison of Isabella County and Shiawassee County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Shiawassee County has the higher population (68,061 vs 64,475 in Isabella County). Shiawassee County has the higher median household income ($64,464 vs $53,759 in Isabella County). Isabella County has the higher median home value ($165,100 vs $164,600 in Shiawassee County).

Population, income & housing

	Isabella County	Shiawassee County
Population	64,475	68,061
Median age	29.8 yrs	43.1 yrs
Median household income	$53,759	$64,464
Median home value	$165,100	$164,600
Median gross rent	$863	$876
Housing units	28,600	30,272
Homeownership rate	61.3%	79.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.8%	19.5%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Isabella County	Shiawassee County
Population	70,688 → 64,475 (-8.8%)	68,340 → 68,061 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$45,116 → $53,759 (+19.2%)	$56,032 → $64,464 (+15.0%)
Median home value	$134,900 → $165,100 (+22.4%)	$122,300 → $164,600 (+34.6%)
Median gross rent	$736 → $863 (+17.3%)	$732 → $876 (+19.7%)

Isabella County

Population

70,68864,475

Median household income

$45,116$53,759

Median home value

$134,900$165,100

Median gross rent

$736$863

Shiawassee County

Population

68,34068,061

Median household income

$56,032$64,464

Median home value

$122,300$164,600

Median gross rent

$732$876

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Isabella County	Shiawassee County
Under 5	4.6%	5.3%
5 to 17	13.1%	15.6%
18 to 24	26.0%	7.7%
25 to 34	12.1%	12.0%
35 to 44	10.3%	11.7%
45 to 54	9.5%	12.8%
55 to 64	10.7%	15.4%
65 to 74	8.5%	11.9%
75 and over	5.2%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Isabella County	Shiawassee County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.6%	93.1%
Black or African American	2.7%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	2.6%	0.2%
Asian	1.5%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.3%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	4.9%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Isabella County	Shiawassee County
No high school diploma	8.0%	7.3%
High school graduate	30.4%	34.6%
Some college or associate's	30.7%	38.6%
Bachelor's degree	17.1%	13.4%
Graduate or professional degree	13.7%	6.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Isabella County	Shiawassee County
Drove alone	76.5%	80.4%
Carpooled	8.8%	9.1%
Public transit	0.5%	0.2%
Walked	6.6%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.4%	7.5%
Other means	0.5%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Isabella County	Shiawassee County
1-unit, detached	59.2%	79.8%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	6.7%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	14.0%	3.7%
20 or more units	6.9%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	9.3%	6.8%

Poverty & households

	Isabella County	Shiawassee County
Poverty rate	23.2%	11.7%
Average household size	2.37	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	19	28
Median year structure built	1983	1969