City · Branch County, Michigan

Coldwater, Michigan

Coldwater is a city in Branch County, Michigan, part of the Coldwater, MI metro area. It has 13,671 residents. Coldwater, Michigan has a quality-of-life score of 16 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,084 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Michigan it ranks #411 of 444 cities and towns. It ranks best on job growth (high), average commute time (low) and homicide rate (low). It ranks worst on child poverty rate (high), dental care shortage (high) and grocery stores (low).

16Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,084 of 15,651 cities and towns
Michigan: #411 of 444 in MI
Population: 13,671 (2020-2024)
Land area: 9 mi²
Density: 1,450.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 2617020

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety59#6,462/15,637
Economy14#13,459/15,631
Housing44#8,372/14,977
Health28#11,298/15,609
Healthcare24#11,836/15,650
Environment27#11,317/15,453
Education11#13,911/15,649
Infrastructure38#9,732/15,650
Community29#11,045/15,651
Leisure & amenities22#12,176/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Coldwater, Michigan ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Branch 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.

Strengths

Job growth · high3.8%
96/100Michigan 0.3%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataBranch County value
Average commute time · low16.3 min
95/100Michigan 24.2 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Michigan 4.7 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBranch County value
Child care cost burden · low22.7%
85/100Michigan 25.4%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBranch County value
Drug overdose deaths · low9.1 /100k
85/100Michigan 16.2 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataBranch County value
Public libraries · high1.3 /10k
82/100Michigan 0.7 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesBranch County value

Weaknesses

Child poverty rate · high33.5%
5/100Michigan 17.7%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Dental care shortage · high18.0
6/100Michigan 6.3United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationBranch County value
Grocery stores · low0.9 /10k
9/100Michigan 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBranch County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Michigan 3.1United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBranch County value
Depression · high28.3%
12/100Michigan 26.5%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Adult smoking · high20.3%
12/100Michigan 17.1%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
12,241 (2015-2019) → 13,671 (2020-2024)
+12%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedImproving
0.1 /1k (2021) → 0.7 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+403%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
36.6% (2015-2019) → 50.6% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateWorsening
21.5% (2015-2019) → 33.5% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
14.4% (2015-2019) → 5.9% (2020-2024)
−8.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
80.1% (2015-2019) → 87.7% (2020-2024)
+7.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

What changed in five years

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.

Over about five years, Coldwater, Michigan improved on 4 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 4. 6 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.

Improved4

Uninsured−8.5 points14.4% → 5.9%
Property tax−0.5 points1.69% → 1.14%
Broadband+7.6 points80.1% → 87.7%
Household income+18%$43,200 → $50,781

Declined4

Unemployment+4.2 points4.1% → 8.3%
Child poverty+12 points21.5% → 33.5%
Rent burden+14 points36.6% → 50.6%
Price / income+0.7×2.0× → 2.7×

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Coldwater, Michigan between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.2 min2015-2019	16.3 min2020-2024	−1.0 min	Within the margin of error	59%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.7%2015-2019	13.9%2020-2024	+1.2 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Broadband subscriptions	80.1%2015-2019	87.7%2020-2024	+7.6 points	Improved	47%
Child poverty rate	21.5%2015-2019	33.5%2020-2024	+12 points	Declined	10%
Effective property tax rate	1.69%2015-2019	1.14%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Improved	93%
High school diploma or higher	87.4%2015-2019	88.9%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Home price to income ratio	2.0×2015-2019	2.7×2020-2024	+0.7×	Declined	38%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4062015-2019	0.4432020-2024	+0.037	Within the margin of error	23%
Median household income	$43,2002015-2019	$50,7812020-2024	+18%	Improved	28%
Poverty rate	17.8%2015-2019	21.3%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Within the margin of error	18%
Rent as share of income	25.4%2015-2019	30.6%2020-2024	+5.2 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Rent-burdened households	36.6%2015-2019	50.6%2020-2024	+14 points	Declined	16%
Unemployment rate	4.1%2015-2019	8.3%2020-2024	+4.2 points	Declined	5%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	14.4%2015-2019	5.9%2020-2024	−8.5 points	Improved	95%

“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.

Cities and towns like Coldwater, Michigan five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Coldwater, 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.

For comparison, Coldwater, Michigan itself moved −11.3 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.

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).

Age and sex

13,671 residents (±24)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

4,458 households (±220)

Coldwater, Michigan
Michigan share

Under $25k22%995
$25k–50k27%1,184
$50k–75k17%774

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

4,458 households (±220)

Coldwater, Michigan
Michigan share

Own64%2,866
Rent36%1,592

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+10.8 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

5,285 workers (±394)

Coldwater, Michigan
Michigan share

Drive alone76%4,030
Carpool9.9%†525
Public transit0.5%†

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Coldwater, MI

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.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Branch County, the county holding most of Coldwater's residents.

Branch County has 833 employer establishments, 183 for every 10,000 residents (0.74× the US rate of 248; 0.80× Michigan's), with 13,376 paid employees at an average annual pay of $53,275. The Census Bureau also counts 2,803 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 833; 2,803 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 183; US 248 · Michigan 228
Paid employees: 13,376
Average annual pay: $53,275; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Branch County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	57	12.5	0.68×Fewer than typical	1,121	$18,401	11
Ambulatory health care services	51	11.2	0.54×Fewer than typical	361	$53,036	56
Specialty trade contractors	45	9.9	0.64×Fewer than typical	244	$59,676	231
Religious organizations	32	7	1.27×More than typical	132	$21,144	—
Construction of buildings	30	6.6	0.87×About typical	107	$46,150	184
Full-service restaurants	30	6.6	0.86×About typical	525	$19,219	3
Lessors of real estate	29	6.4	0.52×Fewer than typical	47	$39,957	244
Automotive repair and maintenance	27	5.9	1.18×About typical	148	$47,216	45
Limited-service restaurants	24	5.3	0.66×Fewer than typical	536	$18,127	5
Building equipment contractors	21	4.6	0.77×Fewer than typical	106	$54,340	33
Fabricated metal product manufacturing	21	4.6	2.88×More than typical	620	$48,335	8
Banks and credit unions	19	4.2	1.29×More than typical	304	$66,826	—

Rank places for an industry Open Branch County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 45,603 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.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $3,090 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Coldwater, Michigan: $0.23 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $3,090; −62% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.23; US $1,994
Sole-source: 34%; US 30%
Single offer: 31%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of Veterans Affairs$3,090100%

Top recipients

RAMPIT USA, INC$3,090100%

Spending by fiscal year

68.7KFY2017
321.9KFY2018
2KFY2019
2.4KFY2021
4.5KFY2022
8.5KFY2023
3.9KFY2024
8.1KFY2025

Top industries (NAICS)

Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing · 3391$3,090100%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

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 Coldwater, Michigan, so they do not add up across cities.

Coldwater, Michigan's figures are part of those of Branch County, MI ($49.4K in FY2026), never added to them: 6.3% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Coldwater is mostly in Branch County.

See federal money in Branch County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Coldwater, Michigan is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Tim WalbergR-MI-5 · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 0.9%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Branch County36100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Coldwater, MI25

Other cities and towns in Branch County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2617020

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends