
Kent County · Michigan
ZIP code 49546
- Population
- 33,429
- Median income
- $97,386
- Median home
- $389,100
- Sales tax
- 6%
ZCTA residents
Household, past 12 months
Owner-occupied value
Michigan state rate
Quick answer
ZIP 49546 sits in Kent County, Michigan and is home to 33,429 people. Median household income is $97,386, the median home is worth $389,100 and median gross rent is $1,275. 68.5% of households own their home, and purchases are taxed at 6% (Michigan state rate).
- County
- Kent County
- State
- Michigan (MI)
- Area codes
- Not published
- Metro area
- Outside covered metros
FIPS 26081
992 ZIPs covered
No NANPA match for this ZIP
Rate jurisdiction used for tax
The numbers for 49546
American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZCTA.
- Population
- 33,429ZIP 49546 residents
- Median household income
- $97,386Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
- Median home value
- $389,100Owner-occupied units
- Median gross rent
- $1,275Rent plus utilities, monthly
- Median age
- 40.6 yrsAll residents
- Homeownership rate
- 68.5%Owner-occupied households
ZIP 49546 in context
How this area compares with national benchmarks.
ZIP 49546 is a small city in Kent County, Michigan, with 33,429 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #65 of 992 ranked by population — larger than 93% of them. The median age here is 40.6 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 ZIP 49546 earn a median of $97,386 a year, 24% above the national figure of $78,538. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 7.5% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.
The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 49546 is valued at $389,100, 28.2% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,275 a month, 9.3% below the national figure, or roughly $15,300 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 15.7% 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×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 68.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. 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.
All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. 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.
Reading ZIP 49546 in context
How 49546 sits inside Kent County and Michigan.
ZIP 49546 is tabulated inside Kent County, Michigan, one of 27 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 992 across Michigan. This is a dense urban ZIP, where a single postal boundary can hold more residents than an entire rural county. 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 49546 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.
Against its own county, 49546 reports a median household income of $97,386, 24% above the $78,824 county median, and 46% above the $66,726 typical MI ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $389,100, 51% above the county figure and 117% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,275 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 49546.
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 49546 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.
Sales tax in 49546
What a purchase inside this ZIP costs at checkout.
Michigan levies 6% statewide with no local add-ons. Check the county page for the local component before you quote a price.
Affordability in this ZIP
Derived from the Census medians above — indicative, not an offer.
A rent burden above 30% is the federal threshold for cost-burdened households, and a price-to-income multiple above 4× is generally considered a stretched housing market. The mortgage figure is principal and interest only — taxes, insurance and HOA dues are extra.
How 49546 compares
ZIP 49546 against the median ZIP in Kent County and across Michigan.
| Measure | ZIP 49546 | County median | State median | vs state |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $97,386 | $78,824 | $66,726 | +46% |
| Median home value | $389,100 | $257,900 | $179,300 | +117% |
| Median gross rent | $1,275 | $1,145 | $930 | +37% |
| Population | 33,429 | 26,123 | 4,540 | +636% |
Medians are computed across the 27 ZIP areas in Kent County and the 992 ZIP areas in Michigan.
Statewide rank
Where this ZIP places among all 992 Michigan ZIP areas.
- Income
- #111
- Home value
- #49
- Population
- #65
richer than 88% of 963 state ZIPs
above 95% of 961 state ZIPs
larger than 93% of 992 state ZIPs
Comparable ZIP codes
Michigan ZIP areas with almost the same household income.
Nearby ZIP codes
Other ZIP codes filed under Kent County.
Adjacent ZIP Codes
Other ZIP codes in Kent County, Michigan.
ZIP 49546 questions
Common questions about this ZIP code.
- Where is ZIP code 49546?
- ZIP 49546 lies mostly in Kent County, Michigan. County assignment follows the largest share of land area, so a ZIP straddling a county line is filed under its dominant county.
- What sales tax do I pay in 49546?
- Michigan charges 6% statewide.
- Is 49546 expensive to live in?
- Median rent runs $1,275 a month, about 16% of median household income, and the median home is worth $389,100 — +117% against the typical Michigan ZIP.
- Is a ZCTA the same as a postal ZIP code?
- Not exactly. The Census builds ZIP Code Tabulation Areas from the ZIP codes of addresses inside each census block, so a ZCTA can differ slightly from the USPS delivery route of the same number, and PO-box-only ZIPs have no ZCTA at all.
Keep going
Related pages for this area.
Sources & transparency
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates — 2019-2023 ACS 5-year — population, income, housing
- Census 2020 ZCTA-to-county relationship file — County assignment by largest land-area overlap
- Michigan Department of Treasury — Sales tax rates and local add-ons
Last reviewed December 2024. Figures are published for reference and can change; verify with the source agency before filing or contracting. How we build and check this data.