Montcalm County vs Van Buren County

A side-by-side comparison of Montcalm County and Van Buren County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Van Buren County has the higher population (75,681 vs 67,174 in Montcalm County). Van Buren County has the higher median household income ($66,902 vs $64,892 in Montcalm County). Van Buren County has the higher median home value ($189,900 vs $172,100 in Montcalm County).

Population, income & housing

	Montcalm County	Van Buren County
Population	67,174	75,681
Median age	40.1 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$64,892	$66,902
Median home value	$172,100	$189,900
Median gross rent	$867	$845
Housing units	28,046	37,243
Homeownership rate	82.2%	80.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.9%	22.9%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Montcalm County	Van Buren County
Population	63,413 → 67,174 (+5.9%)	75,358 → 75,681 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$49,448 → $64,892 (+31.2%)	$54,485 → $66,902 (+22.8%)
Median home value	$113,900 → $172,100 (+51.1%)	$139,400 → $189,900 (+36.2%)
Median gross rent	$697 → $867 (+24.4%)	$705 → $845 (+19.9%)

Montcalm County

Population

63,41367,174

Median household income

$49,448$64,892

Median home value

$113,900$172,100

Median gross rent

$697$867

Van Buren County

Population

75,35875,681

Median household income

$54,485$66,902

Median home value

$139,400$189,900

Median gross rent

$705$845

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Montcalm County	Van Buren County
Under 5	5.2%	5.7%
5 to 17	15.9%	17.4%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.4%
25 to 34	13.9%	11.5%
35 to 44	12.5%	12.0%
45 to 54	13.1%	11.9%
55 to 64	14.0%	14.6%
65 to 74	10.8%	12.3%
75 and over	6.8%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Montcalm County	Van Buren County
White (non-Hispanic)	87.6%	79.1%
Black or African American	3.2%	3.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.3%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.9%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.2%	12.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Montcalm County	Van Buren County
No high school diploma	11.7%	11.2%
High school graduate	39.8%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	33.5%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	10.0%	14.4%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Montcalm County	Van Buren County
Drove alone	81.5%	78.3%
Carpooled	9.3%	9.5%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	2.0%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.1%	8.7%
Other means	0.9%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Montcalm County	Van Buren County
1-unit, detached	76.9%	78.2%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	3.5%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	4.0%
20 or more units	2.0%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	13.7%	11.8%

Poverty & households

	Montcalm County	Van Buren County
Poverty rate	12.0%	13.8%
Average household size	2.67	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	30	24
Median year structure built	1977	1977