Au Gres is a city in Arenac County, Michigan. It has 1,018 residents. Au Gres, Michigan has a quality-of-life score of 44 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #8,763 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Michigan it ranks #207 of 444 cities and towns. It ranks best on reading scores (high), time spent in the emergency room (low) and property crime rate (low). It ranks worst on unemployment rate (high), gyms and fitness centers (low) and new business applications (low).
44Moderate
Quality-of-life score
#8,763 of 15,651 cities and towns
Michigan
#207 of 444 in MI
Population
1,018 (2020-2024)
Land area
2 mi²
Density
447.0 /mi²
FIPS code
2604120
Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.
Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.
Safety67#5,166/15,637
Economy15#13,347/15,631
Housing39#9,100/14,977
Health21#12,350/15,609
Healthcare33#10,507/15,650
Environment84#2,495/15,453
Education65#5,534/15,649
Infrastructure37#9,830/15,650
Community40#9,409/15,651
Leisure & amenities76#3,817/15,651
Strengths · Weaknesses
Indicators where Au Gres, Michigan ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Arenac County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.
How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.
Cities and towns like Au Gres, Michigan five years ago that improved
The places whose measures looked most like those of Au Gres, Michigan in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.
Who lives here
Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).
Income
How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.
Homes
Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.
Getting to work
How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.
Local businesses
Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.
Federal contracts performed here
Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Au Gres is mostly in Arenac County.
Over about five years, Au Gres, Michigan improved on 5 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 7 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.
Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing
Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.
Improved5
Household income+117%$30,938 → $67,115
Median household income
$30,938 → $67,1152015-2019 → 2020-2024
+117%Beyond the margin of error (±$17,005)
Standing among cities and towns: 6 → 42 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 99% of cities and towns
Broadband+31 points61.7% → 93.0%
Broadband subscriptions
61.7% → 93.0%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+31 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±8.9 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 6 → 63 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 98% of cities and towns
Poverty−14 points27.2% → 13.2%
Poverty rate
27.2% → 13.2%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
−14 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±9.2 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 11 → 46 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 97% of cities and towns
Property tax−0.7 points1.96% → 1.26%
Effective property tax rate
1.96% → 1.26%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
−0.7 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±0.7 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 16 → 33 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 97% of cities and towns
Bachelor's++9.2 points11.9% → 21.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher
11.9% → 21.0%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+9.2 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±7 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 12 → 34 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 88% of cities and towns
Declined0
No measure declined by more than its margin of error.
All 12 measures
Change of every measure of Au Gres, Michigan between two periods about five years apart
Measure
Before
After
Change
Reading
Favourable vs peers
Average commute time
31.7 min2015-2019
29.7 min2020-2024
−2.0 min
Within the margin of error
71%
Bachelor's degree or higher
11.9%2015-2019
21.0%2020-2024
+9.2 points
Improved
88%
Broadband subscriptions
61.7%2015-2019
93.0%2020-2024
+31 points
Improved
98%
Effective property tax rate
1.96%2015-2019
1.26%2020-2024
−0.7 points
Improved
97%
High school diploma or higher
87.3%2015-2019
93.5%2020-2024
+6.1 points
Within the margin of error
87%
Home price to income ratio
2.9×2015-2019
2.4×2020-2024
−0.6×
Within the margin of error
94%
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.4382015-2019
0.4142020-2024
−0.023
Within the margin of error
70%
Median household income
$30,9382015-2019
$67,1152020-2024
+117%
Improved
99%
Poverty rate
27.2%2015-2019
13.2%2020-2024
−14 points
Improved
97%
Rent as share of income
29.2%2015-2019
35.6%2020-2024
+6.4 points
Within the margin of error
17%
Rent-burdened households
47.1%2015-2019
58.5%2020-2024
+11 points
Within the margin of error
21%
Unemployment rate
21.8%2015-2019
15.7%2020-2024
−6 points
Within the margin of error
97%
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.
Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.
For comparison, Au Gres, Michigan itself moved +15.7 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).
How the ranking works
Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.
Au Gres, Michigan is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.
The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Arenac County, the county holding most of Au Gres's residents.
Arenac County has 355 employer establishments, 235 for every 10,000 residents (0.94× the US rate of 248; 1.03× Michigan's), with 3,619 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,786. The Census Bureau also counts 910 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.
Establishments
355
910 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
235
US 248 · Michigan 228
Paid employees
3,619
Average annual pay
$46,786
US $68,342
Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Arenac County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation
County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)
Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 15,131 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.
Household income
514 households (±96)
Au Gres, Michigan
Michigan share
Under $25k22%†115
Under $25k
22%±7.1 points
115 households±43 (90% margin of error)
16%in Michigan
15%in United States
−14.2 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$25k–50k14%†70
$25k–50k
14%±6.4 points
70 households±35 (90% margin of error)
19%in Michigan
17%in United States
−27.5 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$50k–75k18%†94
$50k–75k
18%±4.5 points
94 households±29 (90% margin of error)
17%in Michigan
16%in United States
+10.4 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$75k–100k17%†87
$75k–100k
17%±9.2 points
87 households±50 (90% margin of error)
13%in Michigan
13%in United States
+11.7 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$100k–150k18%†95
$100k–150k
18%±11.9 points
95 households±64 (90% margin of error)
17%in Michigan
18%in United States
+10.4 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$150k–200k5.3%†27
$150k–200k
5.3%±4.4 points
27 households±23 (90% margin of error)
8.6%in Michigan
9.6%in United States
+4.8 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$200k or more5.1%†26
$200k or more
5.1%±4.8 points
26 households±25 (90% margin of error)
9.5%in Michigan
13%in United States
+4.6 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
Biggest shift since 2015–2019: $25k–50k (−27.5 points).
† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.
Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.
The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Au Gres, Michigan, so they do not add up across cities.
