ZIP code 48617

ZIP 48617 is a mid-size town in Clare County, Michigan, with 9,729 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #333 of 992 ranked by population — larger than 66% of them. The median age here is 36.9 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger 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 ZIP 48617 earn a median of $56,601 a year, 27.9% below the national figure of $78,538. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 20% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 48617 is valued at $154,500, 49.1% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $826 a month, 41.3% below the national figure, or roughly $9,912 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 17.5% 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 2.7×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 75.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. 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.

ZIP 48617 is tabulated inside Clare County, Michigan, one of 5 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 992 across Michigan. Population sits in the small-town band, typically one main street plus the addresses that feed into it. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 48617 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 48617 reports a median household income of $56,601, 9% above the $51,740 county median, and 15% below the $66,726 typical MI ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $154,500, 19% above the county figure and 14% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $826 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Michigan charges 6% statewide, and no local sales tax is layered on top, so the state rate is the full amount collected in 48617.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 48617 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.