menu
Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Grand Rapids, MI
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Grand Rapids profile


Living in Grand Rapids



Grand Rapids is a relatively large city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 196,908 people and 63 associated neighborhoods, Grand Rapids is the second largest community in Michigan. Grand Rapids has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.

Also of interest is that Grand Rapids has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 10.66% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

One thing that you will notice about Grand Rapids is that there is a good-sized population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. Many singles consider Grand Rapids a good place to live without being in a really big city, with opportunities for friendships and fun with others like themselves.

The population of Grand Rapids is very well educated relative to most cities and towns in the nation, where the average community has 21.84% of its adult population holding a 4-year degree or higher: 39.29% of adults in Grand Rapids have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Grand Rapids in 2018 was $32,371, which is middle income relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $129,484 for a family of four. However, Grand Rapids contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Grand Rapids is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Grand Rapids home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Grand Rapids residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Grand Rapids also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 15.95% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Grand Rapids include German, Dutch, Irish, English, and Polish.

The most common language spoken in Grand Rapids is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.