Traverse City, MI
Traverse City, MI Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Traverse City, MI Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Traverse City ranks 67th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 89th for income. A household earns $82,805 a year while median rent runs $1,329/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 7% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is hazard safety (7th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (204th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 169th and home prices 204th 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 Traverse City, your take-home is worth about $62,252 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
- 89th of 300↑34.3%$82,805
- 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.
- 125th of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $88,683
- Per-capita income
- $47,205
- Full-time pay
- $44,385
Housing
- Median rent
- 169th of 300↑39.2%$1,329/mo
- Home value
- 204th of 300↑65.2%$380,200
- Property tax
- $2,844/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 6.00%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 19th of 3002.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 64th of 30041.2%
- Avg commute
- 80th of 30022.3 min
People
- Population
- 156,634
- Population change
- +4%
- Median age
- 46.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 1.9%
- Broadband
- 94.1%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 42nd of 30038
- Natural-hazard loss
- 7th of 300$6/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 39th of 30015.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 5.9%
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
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Home prices
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — traverse cy cherry capital ap.
What jobs pay in Traverse City
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $168,080
- Pharmacists
- $143,050
- IT managers
- $141,450
- Financial managers
- $119,810
- Lawyers
- $107,460
- Software developers
- $95,860
- Civil engineers
- $94,280
- General & operations managers
- $84,300
- Registered nurses
- $83,690
- Accountants & auditors
- $74,820
- Secondary school teachers
- $66,200
- Police officers
- $66,080
- Elementary school teachers
- $66,020
- Plumbers
- $63,100
- Electricians
- $61,650
- Carpenters
- $59,230
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $57,700
- Construction laborers
- $48,400
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,850
- Customer service reps
- $42,030
- Waiters & waitresses
- $41,380
- Janitors
- $38,420
- Retail salespersons
- $34,540
- Cashiers
- $30,920
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 Traverse City 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.
- Florida302
- Ohio255
- Illinois224
- Texas215
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Traverse City
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Traverse City metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Traverse City metro?
- Median gross rent across the Traverse City, MI Metro Area is $1,329 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Traverse City.
- What is the median household income in the Traverse City metro?
- A typical household in the Traverse City, MI Metro Area earns $82,805 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Traverse City expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Traverse City, MI Metro Area runs about 7% 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 Traverse City metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $88,683 (versus its face value of $82,805). CityLedger rates the Traverse City, MI Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Traverse City metro?
- The median home value across the Traverse City, MI Metro Area is $380,200 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Traverse City metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Traverse City, MI Metro Area is 2.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).