What is the population of Traverse City city?

Traverse City city has 15,491 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, ranking #71 of 745 in Michigan.

What is the median household income in Traverse City city?

Median household income in Traverse City city is $71,731 a year, 8.7% below the national figure of $78,538.

How much does it cost to rent or buy in Traverse City city?

Median gross rent is $983 a month and the median home value is $367,600, so rent absorbs about 16.4% of median household income.

Is Traverse City city affordable compared with the rest of the US?

Homes cost about 5.1× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Traverse City city is less affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 16.4% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.

Aerial view of a dense city center, illustrating the US cities ZIP code directory

Michigan · Census place 80340

Traverse City, MI population, income and ZIP codes

Quick answer

The population of the city of Traverse City, Michigan (Traverse City, MI — Census place “Traverse City city”) is 15,491 residents, ranking #71 of 745 places in Michigan. Median household income is $71,731, the median home is worth $367,600 and median gross rent runs $983 a month. Looking for the Traverse City Michigan ZIP code list? 2 ZIP codes serve Traverse City, MI: 49684, 49686.

Population: 15,491Traverse City city residents
Median household income: $71,731Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
Median home value: $367,600Owner-occupied units
Median gross rent: $983Rent plus utilities, monthly
Median age: 42.2 yrsAll residents
Homeownership rate: 60.9%Owner-occupied households

Traverse City ZIP codes (Michigan)

Census ZCTAs whose delivery area overlaps Traverse City.

The Traverse City MI ZIP code list below covers 2 ZIP codes. Open any one for its population, income, housing and rent profile.

What the numbers mean in Traverse City city

Housing cost measured against local earnings.

A household earning the Traverse City city median would spend about 16.4% of gross income on the median rent. The 30% mark is the federal threshold for cost burden, so anything above it signals a stretched rental market. The median home costs 5.1× the median household income; nationally that ratio sits near 4.5×. Poverty affects 9.1% of residents and 60.9% of households own their home.

Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates · rates as published for 2019-2023 ACS 5-year

Traverse City city, MI in context

How this area compares with national benchmarks.

Traverse City city is a mid-size town in Michigan, with 15,491 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #71 of 745 ranked by population — larger than 90% of them. The median age here is 42.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Traverse City city earn a median of $71,731 a year, 8.7% below the national figure of $78,538 and 16% above the $61,715 median for the 438 Michigan cities we cover. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 9.1% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Traverse City city is valued at $367,600, 21.2% above the national figure and 121% above the $166,100 peer median, while median gross rent runs $983 a month, 30.1% below the national figure, or roughly $11,796 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 16.4% 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 5.1×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 60.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

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.

Compare with nearby places

Places of similar size in Michigan.

More Michigan coverage.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about this area.

What is the population of Traverse City city?: Traverse City city has 15,491 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, ranking #71 of 745 in Michigan.
What is the median household income in Traverse City city?: Median household income in Traverse City city is $71,731 a year, 8.7% below the national figure of $78,538.
How much does it cost to rent or buy in Traverse City city?: Median gross rent is $983 a month and the median home value is $367,600, so rent absorbs about 16.4% of median household income.
Is Traverse City city affordable compared with the rest of the US?: Homes cost about 5.1× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Traverse City city is less affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 16.4% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.
How current is this Traverse City city data?: All figures come from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year five-year estimates. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.