City safety & data profile

Big RapidsMI

Big Rapids, MI is a 10K-resident city in Mecosta County with a median household income of $43,858.

Mecosta County, Michigan. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Big Rapids, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Big Rapids has a population larger than 3% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $156,400, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-05

10K
Population (place)
Bottom 4%
By size
$43,858
Median income (place)
$156,400
Median home (place)
34.1%
Poverty rate (place)
My saved cities

The read on Big Rapids

Big Rapids posts a median household income higher than 4% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Big Rapids area.

Bottom 5%
by median income, US cities
1
hospital in & near Big Rapids

Where Big Rapids income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$43,858 Bottom 4% higher than 4% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Big Rapids $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in MI

Population among 105 MI places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Detroit is the largest MI city on this list; Beverly Hills leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in MI

Median household income among the same 105-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Beverly Hills posts the highest place-level median income in MI; Detroit is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Big Rapids, MI beyond the headline numbers

Big Rapids sits inside Mecosta County, Michigan, at roughly 43.70°N, -85.48°W. Population 10,397, $43,858 median household income. Median home value $156,400, median rent $929. Poverty rate 34.1%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

1 hospital in/around Big Rapids, 3/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER.

34.1% of Big Rapids, MI residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.

The median home in Big Rapids costs roughly 3.6 times median household income, below the midpoint for reporting cities, so ownership remains reachable on a typical local wage.

Remote work covers 9% of Big Rapids workers, under the midpoint for reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, frequent mental distress departs furthest from its peer median: 23.5% in Big Rapids, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Big Rapids's median age is 22.9 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Big Rapids from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
10,397
Big Rapids · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$43,858
-51% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$156,400
-62% vs avg
Median Age (place)
22.9
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Mecosta County): Big Rapids's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
41K-4%
Median Income
$60,951+54%
Median Home Value
$178,900+59%
Poverty Rate
19.9%-13%
Unemployment
4%-74%

Economics

Economics indicators for Big Rapids, MI
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$929/mo
Poverty Rate
34.1% +175% vs avg
Unemployment 4.3%
Bachelor's Degree+ 26.9%
Work From Home 9%
Public Transit 0.5%

Population

White 87.7%
African American 6.2%
Asian 1.2%
Two or More Ethnicities 2.2%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
35.5%
Obesity
34.2%
High Blood Pressure
26.4%
Physical Inactivity
24.6%
Frequent Mental Distress
23.5%
Binge Drinking
19%
Current Smoking
14.7%
Frequent Physical Distress
13.3%
Current Asthma
12.7%
Diabetes
8.4%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 61.3%
Annual Checkup 75.6%

Other Measures

Lack of Health Insurance
7.5%
Coronary Heart Disease
5.2%
Stroke
2.8%

Hospitals 1 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
0
★★★
1
★★
0
★
0
Average Rating
3/5
Total Hospitals
1
With ER
1
COREWELL HEALTH BIG RAPIDS HOSPITAL
BIG RAPIDS · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★☆☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Big Rapids?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Big Rapids right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet MI-BIG-RAPIDS · Big Rapids

Big Rapids: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.

  • FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
  • LEAD-NONE Feed idle
  • DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed

Counts reflect published articles tagged to Big Rapids; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Michigan state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Tracking Safety Alerts in Your Area

How Areazine tags Big Rapids in the CAP feed
All safety guides →

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Big Rapids, MI? ▼
Big Rapids, MI has a population of 10,397 people, located in Mecosta County, Michigan.
What is the median household income in Big Rapids? ▼
The median household income in Big Rapids, MI is $43,858 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 34.1%.
What is the median home value in Big Rapids? ▼
The median home value in Big Rapids, MI is $156,400. Median rent is $929/month.
What are the top health concerns in Big Rapids? ▼
The top health indicators in Big Rapids include Short Sleep Duration (35.5%), Obesity (34.2%), High Blood Pressure (26.4%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Big Rapids? ▼
Big Rapids has 1 hospital with an average rating of 3/5 stars. 1 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Big Rapids? ▼
The median age in Big Rapids, MI is 22.9 years. 26.9% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Big Rapids, both outside Michigan so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside MI (34.1% here).

Meridian, MS 34.3% Clarkston, GA 34.4% Monroe, GA 33.8% Natchez, MS 33.7%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside MI ($43,858 here).

West Plains, MO $44,002 LaGrange, GA $43,708 Stillwater, OK $43,700 Moultrie, GA $43,670

Compare Big Rapids with another city

Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.

Quick picks:

Nearby Cities 8

Cadillac, MI 10K Northview, MI 15K Comstock Park, MI 10K Mount Pleasant, MI 26K Forest Hills, MI 26K Walker, MI 25K Grand Rapids, MI 195K East Grand Rapids, MI 11K
All cities in Michigan → Compare Big Rapids vs Cadillac → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Big Rapids's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Big Rapids area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare Big Rapids against Michigan peers on any ranking lens. Explore Michigan

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Mecosta County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.