Census-designated place · Cheboygan County, Michigan

Indian River, Michigan

Indian River is a census-designated place in Cheboygan County, Michigan. It has 2,039 residents. Indian River, Michigan has a quality-of-life score of 52 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,491 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Michigan it ranks #156 of 444 cities and towns. It ranks best on job growth (high), restaurants and bars (high) and drought exposure (low). It ranks worst on distance to an airport (high), distance to an emergency room (high) and primary care shortage (high).

52Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,491 of 15,651 cities and towns
Michigan: #156 of 444 in MI
Population: 2,039 (2020-2024)
Land area: 13 mi²
Density: 157.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 2640480

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 71 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.

Safety79#3,278/15,637
Economy37#9,776/15,631
Housing34#9,875/14,977
Health26#11,523/15,609
Healthcare31#10,842/15,650
Environment88#1,874/15,453
Education48#8,074/15,649
Infrastructure35#10,182/15,650
Community71#4,477/15,651
Leisure & amenities69#4,909/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Indian River, Michigan ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Cheboygan 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 · high7.1%
99/100Michigan 0.3%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataCheboygan County value
Restaurants and bars · high21.3 /10k
99/100Michigan 9.1 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCheboygan County value
Drought exposure · low0%
98/100Michigan 13%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAACheboygan County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · high10.1 /10k
95/100Michigan 4.6 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCheboygan County value
Hot days · low2 days
94/100Michigan 5 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationCheboygan County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Michigan 4.7 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCheboygan County value

Weaknesses

Distance to an airport · high188 mi
1/100Michigan 44 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauCheboygan County value
Distance to an emergency room · high22.0 mi
2/100Michigan 5.8 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesCheboygan County value
Primary care shortage · high19.0
3/100Michigan 8.3United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationCheboygan County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high178 mi
3/100Michigan 25 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauCheboygan County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.526
5/100Michigan 0.465United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Depression · high29.6%
7/100Michigan 26.5%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Trends

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

PopulationRising
1,883 (2015-2019) → 2,039 (2020-2024)
+8.3%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
69.2% (2015-2019) → 92.9% (2020-2024)
+24 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
30.2% (2015-2019) → 46.5% (2020-2024)
+16 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
17.1% (2015-2019) → 3.3% (2020-2024)
−14 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Median household incomeImproving
$42,989 (2015-2019) → $62,140 (2020-2024)
+45%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
High school diploma or higherImproving
85.0% (2015-2019) → 92.4% (2020-2024)
+7.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

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, Indian River, Michigan improved on 2 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 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++16 points30.2% → 46.5%
Broadband+24 points69.2% → 92.9%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Indian River, Michigan between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	25.4 min2015-2019	32.7 min2020-2024	+7.3 min	Within the margin of error	5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.2%2015-2019	46.5%2020-2024	+16 points	Improved	98%
Broadband subscriptions	69.2%2015-2019	92.9%2020-2024	+24 points	Improved	94%
Effective property tax rate	0.99%2015-2019	0.76%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	63%
High school diploma or higher	85.0%2015-2019	92.4%2020-2024	+7.4 points	Within the margin of error	91%
Home price to income ratio	4.1×2015-2019	5.1×2020-2024	+0.9×	Within the margin of error	25%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4842015-2019	0.5262020-2024	+0.043	Within the margin of error	20%
Median household income	$42,9892015-2019	$62,1402020-2024	+45%	Within the margin of error	79%
Poverty rate	17.3%2015-2019	10.6%2020-2024	−6.7 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	36.8%2015-2019	41.5%2020-2024	+4.7 points	Within the margin of error	24%

“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 Indian River, Michigan five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Indian River, 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, Indian River, Michigan itself moved +6.8 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

2,039 residents (±204)

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

1,083 households (±128)

Indian River, Michigan
Michigan share

Under $25k19%†202
$25k–50k26%†280
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,083 households (±128)

Indian River, Michigan
Michigan share

Own83%904
Rent17%†179

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+13.2 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

819 workers (±207)

Indian River, Michigan
Michigan share

Drive alone84%691
Carpool2.0%†16
Public transit0.0%0

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 Cheboygan County, the county holding most of Indian River's residents.

Cheboygan County has 770 employer establishments, 296 for every 10,000 residents (1.19× the US rate of 248; 1.30× Michigan's), with 4,794 paid employees at an average annual pay of $49,001. The Census Bureau also counts 2,118 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 770; 2,118 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 296; US 248 · Michigan 228
Paid employees: 4,794
Average annual pay: $49,001; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	68	26.1	1.42×More than typical	724	$31,454	5
Specialty trade contractors	64	24.6	1.59×More than typical	203	$79,941	221
Ambulatory health care services	50	19.2	0.92×About typical	593	$49,202	78
Traveler accommodation	43	16.5	9.15×More than typical	110	$87,564	19
Full-service restaurants	40	15.4	2.00×More than typical	479	$33,253	—
Construction of buildings	38	14.6	1.93×More than typical	100	$47,330	182
Services to buildings and dwellings	33	12.7	1.88×More than typical	33	$93,727	216
Automotive repair and maintenance	26	10	1.98×More than typical	70	$44,214	15
Landscaping services	25	9.6	2.74×More than typical	18	$136,111	62
Lessors of real estate	24	9.2	0.75×Fewer than typical	51	$38,118	255
Building equipment contractors	23	8.8	1.47×More than typical	131	$70,153	23
Religious organizations	21	8.1	1.45×More than typical	90	$18,233	—

Rank places for an industry Open Cheboygan County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 26,043 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 Indian River, Michigan: $0 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,995
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

24.6KFY2017
-1.3KFY2018
2.6KFY2019
36.1KFY2022
0FY2023

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 7, 2026, loaded Oct 7, 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 Indian River, Michigan, so they do not add up across cities.

Indian River, Michigan's figures are part of those of Cheboygan County, MI ($780.6K 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: Indian River is mostly in Cheboygan County.

See federal money in Cheboygan 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.

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

House

Jack BergmanR-MI-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 2.4%

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.

Cheboygan County58100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Cheboygan 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
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/2640480

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends