Niles, MI
Niles, MI Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Niles, MI Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Niles ranks 209th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 208th for income. A household earns $68,984 a year while median rent runs $910/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is rent (17th of 300), while affordability is the soft spot (209th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 17th and home prices 81st among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Niles, your take-home is worth about $62,927 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 208th of 300↑37.5%$68,984
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 95th of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $74,682
- Per-capita income
- $37,891
- Full-time pay
- $37,636
Housing
- Median rent
- 17th of 300↑17.4%$910/mo
- Home value
- 81st of 300↑55.7%$244,300
- Property tax
- $2,531/yr · 1%
- Sales tax
- 6.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 92nd of 3003.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 185th of 30031.1%
- Avg commute
- 60th of 30021.6 min
People
- Population
- 152,703
- Population change
- -0.5%
- Median age
- 43.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 6.5%
- Broadband
- 92.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 80th of 30041
- Natural-hazard loss
- 38th of 300$8/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 175th of 30019.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.7%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — s bend ap.
What jobs pay in Niles
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $229,740
- IT managers
- $162,310
- Pharmacists
- $140,290
- Financial managers
- $127,650
- Lawyers
- $123,030
- Software developers
- $111,720
- Civil engineers
- $92,620
- General & operations managers
- $85,850
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,140
- Police officers
- $66,610
- Secondary school teachers
- $64,420
- Electricians
- $64,060
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,760
- Plumbers
- $59,810
- Carpenters
- $54,620
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $48,780
- Construction laborers
- $46,530
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $44,310
- Customer service reps
- $43,620
- Waiters & waitresses
- $38,130
- Janitors
- $35,570
- Retail salespersons
- $34,170
- Cashiers
- $29,550
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Niles metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Michigan are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Indiana1,877
- Illinois819
- Wisconsin400
- Florida298
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Niles
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Niles metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Niles metro?
- Median gross rent across the Niles, MI Metro Area is $910 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Niles.
- What is the median household income in the Niles metro?
- A typical household in the Niles, MI Metro Area earns $68,984 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Niles expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Niles, MI Metro Area runs about 8% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Niles metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $74,682 (versus its face value of $68,984). CityLedger rates the Niles, MI Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Niles metro?
- The median home value across the Niles, MI Metro Area is $244,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Niles metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Niles, MI Metro Area is 3.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).