Empire, MI population, income and ZIP codes

Empire village is a very small community in Michigan, with 384 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #589 of 745 ranked by population — larger than 20% of them. The median age here is 63.7 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Empire village earn a median of $75,938 a year, 3.3% below the national figure of $78,538 and 23% above the $61,715 median for the 438 Michigan cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 15.1% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Empire village is valued at $368,400, 21.4% above the national figure and 122% above the $166,100 peer median, while median gross rent runs $379 a month, 73% below the national figure, or roughly $4,548 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 6% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.9×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 81.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

A median age of 63.7 puts Empire village well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages. With 384 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Empire village against its county rather than against national figures.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.