You don’t need to strike it rich in the Michigan lottery or shovel a mountain of snow for cash to afford a home here.
The cheapest places to live in Michigan provide acces to the Mitten’s lakes and Detroit Style Pizza without breaking the bank.
To determine the most affordable places to live in Michigan, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze US Census data for home prices, incomes, and the cost of living. The result is a set of Michigan places that will let you save money to spend on ice fishing and eco-friendly snowmobile trails.
$41,053 median income · $839 median rent · #4 home prices in Michigan
Located in
Wayne County, Michigan
River Rouge is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan and an industrial Downriver suburb of Detroit. The population was 7,903 at the 2010 census. It is named after the River Rouge, which flows along the city’s northern border and into the Detroit River. The city includes the heavily industrialized Zug Island at the mouth of the River Rouge.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$37,646 median income · $915 median rent · #1 home prices in Michigan
Located in
Genesee County, Michigan
Flint is the largest city and county seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, 66 miles northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. According to the 2010 census, Flint has a population of 102,434, making it the seventh largest city in Michigan. The Flint metropolitan area is located entirely within Genesee County. It is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Michigan with a population of 425,790 in 2010. The city was incorporated in 1855.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$35,239 median income · $889 median rent · #5 home prices in Michigan
Located in
Muskegon County, Michigan
At the height of savings in Michigan, Muskegon Heights ranks as the third least expensive place in the state.
Muskegon Heights is a budget-friendly destination with historical and natural sights, such as the Muskegon South Pierhead Lighthouse, the Heritage Landing, and the P.J. Hoffmaster State Park. And you won’t have to worry about gas because the city has an overall cost of living index of 78 that is 14.3% lower than the Wolverine State average.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$29,309 median income · $688 median rent · #6 home prices in Michigan
Located in
Wayne County, Michigan
Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the State of Michigan, within Metro Detroit. The population was 11,776 at the 2010 census. The city is completely surrounded by Detroit except for a small portion that touches the city of Hamtramck, which is also surrounded by Detroit.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,579 median income · $922 median rent · #9 home prices in Michigan
Located in
Saginaw County, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both located in the area known as Mid-Michigan or Central Michigan. The city of Saginaw is located adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and is considered part of the Tri-City area, along with neighboring Bay City and Midland. The Saginaw County MSA had a population of 196,542 in 2013. The city is also the largest municipality within the Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City Metropolitan Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,808 median income · $864 median rent · #132 home prices in Michigan
Where South Bedford Road meets Avenue A is our sixth most affordable city in Michigan for 2026, Springfield. This city in Calhoun County iis an ideal destination when you’re trying find that affordable big town feel. And while you’re deciding what home to buy, Springfield has great deals. They are the 153rd cheapest place to buy based on home price to income ratio.
It’s also a great city when you’re looking for those affordable staycations to keep your budget in check. Springfield currently has four major parks within their city limits, and they are only a short drive from Fort Custer State Recreation Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$31,117 median income · $851 median rent · #16 home prices in Michigan
Located in
Berrien County, Michigan
Benton Harbor, nestled in Michigan’s Berrien County, takes the top overall spot for affordability in Michigan for 2026. With a median home value of $151,455 and rent at $851, the city comes in with an overall cost of living index of 81. Some might say Benton Harbor is an excellent place to harbor your savings.
With all that savings on the cost of living, you can afford a boat on Lake Michigan. Or, you know, renting one for a weekend.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$48,166 median income · $840 median rent · #60 home prices in Michigan
Located in
Cass County, Michigan
With a median home value of $224,662 and a median rent of only $840, Dowagiac is a great place to live if you’re looking for an affordable city in Michigan. Additionally, the median income in Dowagiac is $48,166, which means that residents are able to comfortably afford their housing costs and still have money left over for other expenses.
Dowagiac is located in a beautiful area of Michigan. Residents enjoy a variety of outdoor activities, including hiking and fishing. Downtown Dowagiac also offers plenty of local shops and restaurants, making it a great place to explore and support the community.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,735 median income · $996 median rent · #37 home prices in Michigan
Located in
Muskegon County, Michigan
Muskegon is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, and is the largest populated city on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan. At the 2010 census the city population was 38,401. The city is the county seat of Muskegon County. It is located at the southwest corner of Muskegon Township, but is administratively autonomous.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,420 median income · $766 median rent · #8 home prices in Michigan
Where the thumb meets the hand on ‘The Mitten,’ is our tenth most affordable city in Michigan for 2026, Bay City.
You don’t have to live on ramen noodles or the McDonald’s dollar menu to be able to afford this little city in Bay County. Bay city is the ninth most affordable city in terms of home price to income ratio. Bay City’s jobs in healthcare, manufacturing, and education are keeping the real estate agents, here, very happy. They are also keeping the city’s median household income close to $49,420/year.
Kudos to to the affordable Bay City for keeping their residents employed and their economy strong.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Michigan’s statewide median.
Michigan statewide median: $259,857
Michigan statewide median: $72,875
On the map
Where your money goes furthest in Michigan
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Wolverine State for 2026
Determining affordability for places in Michigan boils down to how much it costs to live here.
You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.
With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 for Michigan using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:
- Housing
- Transportation
- Services
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Utilities
These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.
We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Michigan to figure out which is the least expensive.
The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 153 places in Michigan that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.
The place in Michigan with the lowest cost of living according to the data is River Rouge.
We updated this article for 2026. This report reflects our eleventh time ranking the cheapest places to live in Michigan.
The full plate
Cheapest Places To Live In Michigan
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Cost Of Living Index | Median Income | Home Prices | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | River Rouge | 7,008 | 77 | $41,053 | $85,479 | $839 |
| 2 | Flint | 80,175 | 78 | $37,646 | $65,072 | $915 |
| 3 | Muskegon Heights | 9,841 | 78 | $35,239 | $88,077 | $889 |
| 4 | Highland Park | 8,628 | 78 | $29,309 | $88,863 | $688 |
| 5 | Saginaw | 43,536 | 79 | $38,579 | $128,098 | $922 |
| 6 | Springfield | 5,269 | 80 | $44,808 | $419,638 | $864 |
| 7 | Benton Harbor | 8,953 | 81 | $31,117 | $151,455 | $851 |
| 8 | Dowagiac | 5,732 | 81 | $48,166 | $224,662 | $840 |
| 9 | Muskegon | 37,226 | 82 | $44,735 | $184,018 | $996 |
| 10 | Bay City | 32,320 | 82 | $49,420 | $122,423 | $766 |
| 11 | Detroit | 638,530 | 83 | $39,938 | $75,358 | $1,074 |
| 12 | Owosso | 14,632 | 83 | $54,229 | $183,751 | $784 |
| 13 | Escanaba | 12,354 | 83 | $45,369 | $175,184 | $657 |
| 14 | Ecorse | 9,064 | 83 | $40,241 | $81,039 | $840 |
| 15 | Menominee | 8,326 | 83 | $49,432 | $167,970 | $735 |
| 16 | Three Rivers | 7,943 | 83 | $49,503 | $222,657 | $839 |
| 17 | Albion | 7,560 | 83 | $39,885 | $137,319 | $775 |
| 18 | Ishpeming | 6,181 | 83 | $52,754 | $182,186 | $733 |
| 19 | Inkster | 25,428 | 84 | $39,252 | $108,131 | $1,170 |
| 20 | Adrian | 20,395 | 84 | $50,209 | $185,079 | $956 |
| 21 | Melvindale | 12,554 | 84 | $42,185 | $139,402 | $1,110 |
| 22 | Sturgis | 11,054 | 84 | $62,710 | $206,369 | $826 |
| 23 | Alpena | 10,154 | 84 | $47,545 | $187,287 | $625 |
| 24 | Alma | 9,396 | 84 | $53,307 | $162,540 | $836 |
| 25 | Iron Mountain | 7,518 | 84 | $59,405 | $182,105 | $744 |
| 26 | Gladstone | 5,253 | 84 | $54,970 | $204,038 | $910 |
| 27 | Pontiac | 62,104 | 85 | $44,329 | $137,921 | $1,063 |
| 28 | Jackson | 31,058 | 85 | $44,558 | $187,175 | $898 |
| 29 | Wayne | 17,310 | 85 | $59,038 | $172,173 | $974 |
| 30 | Coldwater | 13,671 | 85 | $50,781 | $210,965 | $943 |
| 31 | Sault Ste. Marie | 13,335 | 85 | $55,328 | $156,408 | $804 |
| 32 | Niles | 11,803 | 85 | $51,376 | $204,971 | $855 |
| 33 | Lapeer | 9,082 | 85 | $52,716 | $261,368 | $1,002 |
| 34 | Burton | 29,500 | 86 | $60,052 | $152,877 | $1,009 |
| 35 | Hamtramck | 27,743 | 86 | $39,293 | $164,411 | $989 |
| 36 | Cadillac | 10,445 | 86 | $51,773 | $228,847 | $842 |
| 37 | Center Line | 8,463 | 86 | $54,703 | $166,336 | $788 |
| 38 | St. Louis | 7,367 | 86 | $51,167 | $162,578 | $794 |
| 39 | Kalamazoo | 73,076 | 87 | $52,272 | $236,274 | $1,078 |
| 40 | Battle Creek | 52,374 | 87 | $55,693 | $176,635 | $957 |
| 41 | Roseville | 47,123 | 87 | $62,182 | $168,929 | $1,233 |
| 42 | Lincoln Park | 39,257 | 87 | $58,616 | $150,869 | $1,023 |
| 43 | Eastpointe | 33,982 | 87 | $62,325 | $150,775 | $1,325 |
| 44 | Hazel Park | 14,963 | 87 | $67,073 | $155,502 | $1,314 |
| 45 | Big Rapids | 8,477 | 87 | $43,858 | $215,285 | $929 |
| 46 | Hillsdale | 8,002 | 87 | $51,038 | $199,154 | $812 |
| 47 | Kingsford | 5,124 | 87 | $61,635 | $146,083 | $917 |
| 48 | Lansing | 113,023 | 88 | $54,382 | $163,359 | $993 |
| 49 | Taylor | 62,081 | 88 | $61,081 | $175,806 | $1,101 |
| 50 | Wyandotte | 24,489 | 88 | $71,987 | $186,227 | $972 |
| 51 | Monroe | 20,320 | 88 | $59,813 | $214,283 | $909 |
| 52 | Mount Clemens | 15,511 | 88 | $52,310 | $175,694 | $847 |
| 53 | Greenville | 8,995 | 88 | $63,285 | $265,109 | $894 |
| 54 | Flushing | 8,284 | 88 | $80,025 | $235,733 | $944 |
| 55 | Port Huron | 28,620 | 89 | $50,366 | $170,018 | $982 |
| 56 | Hastings | 7,520 | 89 | $58,286 | $235,811 | $745 |
| 57 | Manistee | 6,275 | 89 | $60,541 | $257,759 | $768 |
| 58 | Belding | 5,960 | 89 | $60,373 | $264,511 | $668 |
| 59 | Swartz Creek | 5,853 | 89 | $71,571 | $245,863 | $1,247 |
| 60 | Eaton Rapids | 5,183 | 89 | $63,875 | $250,600 | $972 |
| 61 | Garden City | 26,739 | 90 | $67,294 | $200,241 | $1,150 |
| 62 | Romulus | 24,831 | 90 | $69,151 | $203,010 | $1,049 |
| 63 | Ionia | 12,753 | 90 | $63,978 | $222,836 | $852 |
| 64 | Charlotte | 9,277 | 90 | $62,681 | $235,060 | $887 |
| 65 | Holly | 5,964 | 90 | $64,305 | $320,381 | $992 |
| 66 | Davison | 5,076 | 90 | $48,814 | $253,626 | $891 |
| 67 | Harper Woods | 15,116 | 91 | $65,022 | $153,570 | $1,351 |
| 68 | Fraser | 14,583 | 91 | $64,354 | $234,792 | $843 |
| 69 | Marshall | 6,804 | 91 | $76,050 | $240,469 | $1,088 |
| 70 | Westland | 83,633 | 92 | $62,076 | $211,889 | $1,158 |
| 71 | Wyoming | 77,353 | 92 | $73,677 | $286,890 | $1,196 |
| 72 | Midland | 42,724 | 92 | $73,325 | $247,417 | $1,048 |
| 73 | Tecumseh | 8,646 | 92 | $62,835 | $254,886 | $1,003 |
| 74 | Ludington | 7,676 | 92 | $46,411 | $298,513 | $902 |
| 75 | Allegan | 5,172 | 92 | $52,925 | $279,562 | $1,115 |
| 76 | Dearborn Heights | 61,771 | 93 | $60,391 | $212,389 | $1,331 |
| 77 | Mount Pleasant | 21,236 | 93 | $44,706 | $220,400 | $922 |
| 78 | Flat Rock | 10,340 | 93 | $81,585 | $257,473 | $919 |
| 79 | Marysville | 9,925 | 93 | $66,901 | $227,854 | $974 |
| 80 | Houghton | 8,474 | 93 | $43,456 | $262,335 | $978 |
| 81 | Grand Ledge | 7,804 | 93 | $68,980 | $296,333 | $982 |
| 82 | St. Johns | 7,715 | 93 | $68,728 | $286,182 | $887 |
| 83 | New Haven | 6,475 | 93 | $66,125 | $308,844 | $1,268 |
| 84 | St. Clair Shores | 58,140 | 94 | $73,500 | $227,950 | $1,183 |
| 85 | Kentwood | 54,296 | 94 | $74,373 | $331,531 | $1,260 |
| 86 | Southgate | 29,366 | 94 | $66,118 | $192,161 | $1,120 |
| 87 | Madison Heights | 28,419 | 94 | $69,503 | $219,511 | $1,176 |
| 88 | Allen Park | 27,925 | 94 | $81,655 | $206,256 | $1,246 |
| 89 | Grandville | 16,356 | 94 | $78,442 | $353,731 | $1,143 |
| 90 | Grand Haven | 10,996 | 94 | $60,669 | $391,797 | $939 |
| 91 | Warren | 137,928 | 95 | $64,016 | $196,785 | $1,225 |
| 92 | Oak Park | 29,318 | 95 | $71,510 | $232,982 | $1,396 |
| 93 | Ypsilanti | 19,857 | 95 | $46,588 | $282,887 | $1,080 |
| 94 | Fenton | 11,906 | 95 | $80,000 | $355,969 | $1,275 |
| 95 | Howell | 10,021 | 95 | $60,449 | $377,375 | $1,177 |
| 96 | Mason | 8,249 | 95 | $79,117 | $275,133 | $1,164 |
| 97 | Hudsonville | 7,769 | 95 | $91,280 | $417,204 | $1,264 |
| 98 | Walled Lake | 7,299 | 95 | $72,055 | $242,300 | $1,419 |
| 99 | Dundee | 5,744 | 95 | $78,837 | $286,249 | $1,242 |
| 100 | Portage | 49,259 | 96 | $83,212 | $292,450 | $1,133 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, cost-of-living data. 153 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Michigan Affordability Summary
This is an accurate list of the most affordable places to live in Michigan for 2026, if you’re looking at the cost of living numbers in Michigan.
The cheapest cities in Michigan are River Rouge, Flint, Muskegon Heights, Highland Park, Saginaw, Springfield, Benton Harbor, Dowagiac, Muskegon, and Bay City.
