City · Eaton County, Michigan

Grand Ledge, Michigan

Grand Ledge is a city in Eaton County, Michigan, part of the Lansing-East Lansing, MI metro area. It has 7,804 residents. Grand Ledge, Michigan has a quality-of-life score of 53 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,327 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Michigan it ranks #153 of 444 cities and towns. It ranks best on drought exposure (low), voter turnout (high) and dental care shortage (low). It ranks worst on hospital quality rating (low), grocery stores (low) and depression (high).

53Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,327 of 15,651 cities and towns
Michigan: #153 of 444 in MI
Population: 7,804 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 1,997.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 2633420

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.

Safety42#9,098/15,637
Economy70#4,652/15,631
Housing49#7,646/14,977
Health54#7,148/15,609
Healthcare51#7,746/15,650
Environment38#9,548/15,453
Education51#7,676/15,649
Infrastructure66#5,351/15,650
Community80#3,147/15,651
Leisure & amenities10#14,134/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Drought exposure · low1%
94/100Michigan 13%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAEaton County value
Voter turnout · high77.2%
91/100Michigan 74.6%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionEaton County value
Dental care shortage · low0.0
84/100Michigan 6.3United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationEaton County value
Average commute time · low20.3 min
83/100Michigan 24.2 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Child care cost burden · low23.4%
83/100Michigan 25.4%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEaton County value
Hot days · low7 days
81/100Michigan 5 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationEaton County value

Weaknesses

Hospital quality rating · low1.0
1/100Michigan 3.1United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesEaton County value
Grocery stores · low0.7 /10k
5/100Michigan 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsEaton County value
Depression · high29.0%
9/100Michigan 26.5%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Primary care physicians · low29 /100k
12/100Michigan 81 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEaton County value
Effective property tax rate · high1.63%
16/100Michigan 1.19%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.6 /10k
19/100Michigan 1.0 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsEaton County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
77.7% (2015-2019) → 88.7% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
16.5% (2015-2019) → 5.6% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
35.8% (2015-2019) → 44.3% (2020-2024)
+8.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
New homes permittedWorsening
1.3 /1k (2020) → 0.8 /1k (2025)
−40%5 yearsUS 4.4 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
31.3% (2015-2019) → 37.4% (2020-2024)
+6.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
24.1% (2015-2019) → 28.3% (2020-2024)
+4.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

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, Grand Ledge, Michigan improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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.

Improved2

Bachelor's++6.1 points31.3% → 37.4%
Broadband+11 points77.7% → 88.7%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Grand Ledge, Michigan between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.8 min2015-2019	20.3 min2020-2024	−0.5 min	Within the margin of error	54%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.3%2015-2019	37.4%2020-2024	+6.1 points	Improved	75%
Broadband subscriptions	77.7%2015-2019	88.7%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	64%
Effective property tax rate	1.92%2015-2019	1.63%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	73%
High school diploma or higher	95.4%2015-2019	96.7%2020-2024	+1.3 points	Within the margin of error	50%
Home price to income ratio	2.4×2015-2019	2.8×2020-2024	+0.4×	Within the margin of error	53%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4412015-2019	0.3952020-2024	−0.047	Within the margin of error	83%
Median household income	$59,7382015-2019	$68,9802020-2024	+15%	Within the margin of error	24%
Poverty rate	10.1%2015-2019	6.2%2020-2024	−4 points	Within the margin of error	75%
Rent as share of income	24.1%2015-2019	28.3%2020-2024	+4.2 points	Within the margin of error	26%
Rent-burdened households	35.8%2015-2019	44.3%2020-2024	+8.5 points	Within the margin of error	27%
Unemployment rate	3.0%2015-2019	4.6%2020-2024	+1.6 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	4.2%2015-2019	5.0%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	36%

“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 Grand Ledge, Michigan five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Grand Ledge, 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, Grand Ledge, Michigan itself moved −1.3 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

7,804 residents (±22)

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

3,578 households (±160)

Grand Ledge, Michigan
Michigan share

Under $25k9.4%†336
$25k–50k19%677
$50k–75k25%907

Homes

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

Owners and renters

3,578 households (±160)

Grand Ledge, Michigan
Michigan share

Own67%2,414
Rent33%1,164

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

3,821 workers (±298)

Grand Ledge, Michigan
Michigan share

Drive alone74%2,819
Carpool4.7%†179
Public transit0.6%†22

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 Lansing-East Lansing, 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 Eaton County, the county holding most of Grand Ledge's residents.

Eaton County has 2,182 employer establishments, 200 for every 10,000 residents (0.81× the US rate of 248; 0.88× Michigan's), with 42,828 paid employees at an average annual pay of $53,064. The Census Bureau also counts 7,884 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,182; 7,884 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 200; US 248 · Michigan 228
Paid employees: 42,828
Average annual pay: $53,064; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	186	17.1	0.93×About typical	3,791	$19,791	37
Ambulatory health care services	151	13.9	0.67×Fewer than typical	1,236	$57,083	285
Specialty trade contractors	136	12.5	0.81×About typical	1,025	$76,621	648
Limited-service restaurants	100	9.2	1.14×About typical	1,987	$17,482	22
Religious organizations	85	7.8	1.41×More than typical	1,041	$24,814	—
Lessors of real estate	78	7.2	0.58×Fewer than typical	385	$46,730	619
Construction of buildings	65	6	0.79×Fewer than typical	306	$64,631	321
Full-service restaurants	65	6	0.78×Fewer than typical	1,567	$23,288	9
Services to buildings and dwellings	63	5.8	0.86×About typical	513	$36,801	485
Offices of other health practitioners	61	5.6	0.92×About typical	346	$41,983	151
Building equipment contractors	59	5.4	0.90×About typical	568	$74,607	93
Automotive repair and maintenance	53	4.9	0.97×About typical	249	$46,839	106

Rank places for an industry Open Eaton County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 108,915 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Grand Ledge, Michigan: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

289.3FY2017
13.7KFY2018
3.8KFY2019
8.6KFY2020
1.3KFY2021
3.7KFY2022
5.8KFY2023
4KFY2024
1.3KFY2025

What was bought

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 Grand Ledge, Michigan, so they do not add up across cities.

Grand Ledge, Michigan's figures are part of those of Eaton County, MI and Clinton County, MI ($39.8M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Eaton 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.

Grand Ledge, Michigan is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Eaton County72100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Lansing-East Lansing, MI69

Other cities and towns in Eaton 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/2633420

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends