Mecosta County vs Sanilac County

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

Mecosta 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 40,321 in Mecosta County). Sanilac County has the higher median household income ($59,074 vs $57,774 in Mecosta County). Mecosta County has the higher median home value ($169,900 vs $162,200 in Sanilac County).

Population, income & housing

	Mecosta County	Sanilac County
Population	40,321	40,574
Median age	40.6 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$57,774	$59,074
Median home value	$169,900	$162,200
Median gross rent	$867	$814
Housing units	21,045	21,751
Homeownership rate	75.9%	81.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.7%	16.0%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mecosta County	Sanilac County
Population	43,251 → 40,321 (-6.8%)	41,295 → 40,574 (-1.7%)
Median household income	$45,018 → $57,774 (+28.3%)	$47,672 → $59,074 (+23.9%)
Median home value	$121,400 → $169,900 (+40.0%)	$111,200 → $162,200 (+45.9%)
Median gross rent	$712 → $867 (+21.8%)	$678 → $814 (+20.1%)

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

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)

	Mecosta County	Sanilac County
Under 5	5.2%	5.0%
5 to 17	14.4%	16.2%
18 to 24	14.0%	7.2%
25 to 34	10.6%	10.5%
35 to 44	10.4%	10.7%
45 to 54	10.7%	12.0%
55 to 64	14.5%	15.7%
65 to 74	12.4%	13.6%
75 and over	7.8%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mecosta County	Sanilac County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.0%	92.4%
Black or African American	2.2%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.1%
Asian	0.8%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.4%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	4.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mecosta County	Sanilac County
No high school diploma	8.3%	9.3%
High school graduate	36.7%	41.7%
Some college or associate's	32.4%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	10.3%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mecosta County	Sanilac County
Drove alone	78.0%	77.3%
Carpooled	8.3%	9.2%
Public transit	0.5%	0.3%
Walked	5.0%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	6.7%	8.0%
Other means	1.4%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mecosta County	Sanilac County
1-unit, detached	70.2%	82.1%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	4.7%	3.0%
20 or more units	1.5%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	17.3%	10.1%

Poverty & households

	Mecosta County	Sanilac County
Poverty rate	19.2%	14.0%
Average household size	2.33	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	24	28
Median year structure built	1980	1970