Mount Pleasant is a medium-sized city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 20,859 people and 13 associated neighborhoods, Mount Pleasant is the 64th largest community in Michigan.Unlike some cities, Mount Pleasant isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Mount Pleasant are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Mount Pleasant is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Mount Pleasant who work in food service (14.84%), teaching (12.34%), and office and administrative support (10.58%). One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 9.10% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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. Mount Pleasant is also a major college town with a large number of people who are 18 years or older and attending college. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in Mount Pleasant have a strong influence on the local culture and entertainment scene, which may seem dormant by comparison in the summer months when much of the student population is away. In the fall, the return of students has a reinvigorating effect on the community. Because colleges are lasting institutions, they have a stabilizing effect on the economy by providing direct local benefits such as jobs for faculty and staff and spending by students. Mount Pleasant’s economy is one such example of this. One of the benefits of Mount Pleasant is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 15.78 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.The citizens of Mount Pleasant are among the most well-educated in the nation: 44.86% of adults in Mount Pleasant have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Mount Pleasant in 2022 was $25,323, which is low income relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $101,292 for a family of four. However, Mount Pleasant contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Mount Pleasant also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 35.76% of its population below the federal poverty line.Mount Pleasant is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Mount Pleasant home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Mount Pleasant residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Mount Pleasant include German, English, Irish, Polish, and Italian. The most common language spoken in Mount Pleasant is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
