City safety & data profile

Grand RapidsMI

Grand Rapids, MI is a 195K-resident city in Kent County with a median household income of $69,108.

Kent County, Michigan. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Grand Rapids, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Grand Rapids has a population larger than 97% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $244,500, and 4 hospitals serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-03

195K
Population (place)
Top 3%
By size
$69,108
Median income (place)
$244,500
Median home (place)
16.9%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids posts a median household income higher than 35% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 4 hospitals serve the Grand Rapids area.

Bottom 36%
by median income, US cities
4
hospitals in & near Grand Rapids

Where Grand Rapids income ranks nationally

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

$69,108 Bottom 35% higher than 35% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Grand 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 Grand Rapids, MI beyond the headline numbers

Grand Rapids sits inside Kent County, Michigan, at roughly 42.96°N, -85.67°W. Population 195,097, $69,108 median household income. Median home value $244,500, median rent $1,266. Poverty rate 16.9%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

4 hospitals in/around Grand Rapids, 3.5/5 avg rating, 2 with an ER.

16.9% of Grand 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 Grand Rapids costs roughly 3.5 times median household income, below the midpoint for reporting cities, so ownership remains reachable on a typical local wage.

13.9% of Grand Rapids workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, current asthma departs furthest from its peer median: 11.6% in Grand Rapids, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,722 cities reporting that measure.

3% of Grand Rapids workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

Grand Rapids's median age is 32.3 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Grand 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)
195,097
Grand Rapids · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$69,108
-23% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$244,500
-41% vs avg
Median Age (place)
32.3
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Kent County): Grand 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
663K+9%
Median Income
$82,631+60%
Median Home Value
$289,900+111%
Poverty Rate
10.1%-35%
Unemployment
4.2%-58%

Economics

Economics indicators for Grand Rapids, MI
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,266/mo
Poverty Rate
16.9% +36% vs avg
Unemployment 5.2%
Bachelor's Degree+ 41.6%
Work From Home 13.9%
Public Transit 3%

Population

White 60.2%
African American 18%
Asian 2.8%
Two or More Ethnicities 2.7%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Obesity
36.4%
Short Sleep Duration
35%
High Blood Pressure
31%
Physical Inactivity
23.9%
Frequent Mental Distress
18.9%
Binge Drinking
17.6%
Current Smoking
14%
Frequent Physical Distress
13%
Current Asthma
11.6%
Diabetes
10.4%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 65%
Annual Checkup 77.6%

Other Measures

Lack of Health Insurance
9.9%
Coronary Heart Disease
5.3%
Stroke
3%

Hospitals 4 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
1
★★★
1
★★
0
0
Average Rating
3.5/5
Total Hospitals
4
With ER
2
SPECTRUM HEALTH
GRAND RAPIDS · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★★☆
MERCY HEALTH SAINT MARY'S
GRAND RAPIDS · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★☆☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Grand Rapids?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Grand 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-GRAND-RAPIDS-MI · Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids: 1 tagged alert; lead category ECCC weather alert.

  • VOL-TRACE 1 on record
  • MIX-LED 100% ca-weather
  • DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Houston

Tagged alert mix: Grand Rapids

Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag

Value

What this shows 1 tagged notice on record for Grand Rapids.

Source Areazine publication corpus As of Live tagged feed

Nearest tagged-volume peer: Houston, TX (1 tagged · Δ0)

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

Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4

Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (1 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.

Read with this city profile

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Grand Rapids, MI?
Grand Rapids, MI has a population of 195,097 people, located in Kent County, Michigan.
What is the median household income in Grand Rapids?
The median household income in Grand Rapids, MI is $69,108 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 16.9%.
What is the median home value in Grand Rapids?
The median home value in Grand Rapids, MI is $244,500. Median rent is $1,266/month.
What are the top health concerns in Grand Rapids?
The top health indicators in Grand Rapids include Obesity (36.4%), Short Sleep Duration (35%), High Blood Pressure (31%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Grand Rapids?
Grand Rapids has 4 hospitals with an average rating of 3.5/5 stars. 2 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Grand Rapids?
The median age in Grand Rapids, MI is 32.3 years. 41.6% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Grand 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 (16.9% here).

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside MI ($69,108 here).

Compare Grand 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

Using Grand 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 Grand 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 Grand 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 (Kent 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.