Counties / Michigan / Schoolcraft County

Schoolcraft County, MI

FIPS 26153 · population 8,128 · outside every metro area

$202k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$202k
▲ 9.9% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$705
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$973
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+63.3%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+9.9%FHFA HPI2025+8.8%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$142k
Surveyed gross rent$705
Rent burden 30%+49.4%
Median year built1975
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
34.7%vacant
5,956estimated housing units
Occupied tenure13.4% renter
owner 86.6%renter 13.4%
Structure mix88.9% single-family
Single-family 88.9%20+ units 2.2%Mobile home 5.7%Other 3.2%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs2,761▲ 2.2% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments240annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,003▲ 4.4% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities21.5% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+2.2%WEEKLY WAGE+4.4%Trade, transportation, and utilities21.5%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Schoolcraft County presents a tension: investors able to validate property-level rent and flood exposure should investigate; those relying on headline appreciation or easy resale should be cautious. Zillow's county median home value was $201,946 in 2026-06, up 9.86% year over year. Separately, the FHFA repeat-transaction HPI rose 8.82% in its 2025 annual observation. These directions are consistent, but their source periods and methods differ; FHFA is not a home value, and neither series establishes a forward return.

02Housing economics

At the reported price, no median asking market rent is published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD's $973 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 0.99%; this is a carrying-cost input, but it cannot establish a specific property's tax bill. Underwriting needs lease comparables, utilities, vacancy, insurance, repairs, and property-specific assessed tax before rent coverage or all-in returns can be judged.

03Demand & competition

County workplace evidence is not a demand proxy: QCEW reports 2,761 annual average covered jobs at county workplaces, up 2.18%. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, accounting for 21.54% of private covered employment, not the entire economy. Tax-return migration shows a net loss of 4; inbound moving-household income was $213 below outbound. This small negative flow and income gap do not establish tenant demand. Investors made 1 of 41 purchases, or 2.44%, indicating limited measured non-owner competition in this transaction slice.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.13% of building value; it is a modeled loss ratio rather than a parcel forecast, but it makes flood zone, elevation, claims history, mitigation, and insurance quotes essential. Although Realtor.com has an inventory source period, no MLS median listing price, active-listing count, days on market, reduction share, or pending ratio is published. Therefore visible supply, seller concessions, and marketing time cannot be assessed. The record lacks property-level condition and insurance costs, preventing a defensible expense, resale-liquidity, or hazard-cost conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Schoolcraft County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Manistique city2.9K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

1 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Manistique cityIncorporated place
    2,863

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.129% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.99%

$1,407 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-4

155 in · 159 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$213

$52,303 arriving · $52,516 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors2.4%

1 of 41 mortgages

investorother financed
No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Market rents, vacancy, or operating costs may not support cash flow at the reported price.
  2. Parcel flood exposure and insurance quotes may be materially worse than the county modeled-loss signal.
  3. Unpublished listing inventory and marketing-time measures may reveal weaker exit liquidity than price indices suggest.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can this record support a gross-yield calculation?

No. It has no published median asking market rent, and HUD FMR cannot be substituted.

What does the record establish about buyer competition?

It identifies limited measured investor participation in the supplied purchase slice, not total buyer demand.

Can the record measure visible resale supply and marketing time?

No. Realtor.com listing price, active listings, days on market, reductions, and pending ratio are not published.