City · Shiawassee County, Michigan

Perry, Michigan

Perry is a city in Shiawassee County, Michigan, part of the Owosso, MI metro area. It has 2,073 residents. Perry, Michigan has a quality-of-life score of 31 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,792 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Michigan it ranks #306 of 444 cities and towns. It ranks best on homicide rate (low), voter turnout (high) and home price to income ratio (low). It ranks worst on depression (high), restaurants and bars (low) and primary care physicians (low).

31Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,792 of 15,651 cities and towns
Michigan: #306 of 444 in MI
Population: 2,073 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 797.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 2663700

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.

Safety63#5,821/15,637
Economy29#11,175/15,631
Housing57#6,397/14,977
Health29#11,097/15,609
Healthcare20#12,596/15,650
Environment54#7,030/15,453
Education34#10,330/15,649
Infrastructure24#11,820/15,650
Community62#5,988/15,651
Leisure & amenities17#13,048/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Michigan 4.7 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataShiawassee County value
Voter turnout · high76.3%
89/100Michigan 74.6%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionShiawassee County value
Home price to income ratio · low2.2×
88/100Michigan 3.2×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Public libraries · high1.6 /10k
88/100Michigan 0.7 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesShiawassee County value
Drought exposure · low5%
86/100Michigan 13%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAShiawassee County value
High school diploma or higher · high95.8%
83/100Michigan 92.1%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003

Weaknesses

Depression · high30.2%
5/100Michigan 26.5%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Restaurants and bars · low4.6 /10k
7/100Michigan 9.1 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsShiawassee County value
Primary care physicians · low32 /100k
14/100Michigan 81 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteShiawassee County value
Frequent mental distress · high20.7%
14/100Michigan 20.0%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Pharmacies · low1.0 /10k
15/100Michigan 1.9 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsShiawassee County value
Child poverty rate · high40.3%
16/100Michigan 17.7%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty

Trends

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

Child poverty rateWorsening
5.7% (2015-2019) → 40.3% (2020-2024)
+35 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
26.7% (2015-2019) → 39.5% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Poverty rateWorsening
6.3% (2015-2019) → 19.1% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
74.9% (2015-2019) → 87.2% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
New homes permittedWorsening
7.2 /1k (2021) → 3.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−53%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
4.2% (2015-2019) → 12.4% (2020-2024)
+8.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%

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, Perry, Michigan improved on 1 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 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.

Improved1

Broadband+12 points74.9% → 87.2%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Perry, Michigan between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	30.3 min2015-2019	27.0 min2020-2024	−3.3 min	Within the margin of error	81%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.0%2015-2019	23.1%2020-2024	+7.1 points	Within the margin of error	80%
Broadband subscriptions	74.9%2015-2019	87.2%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	70%
Effective property tax rate	1.83%2015-2019	1.42%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	86%
High school diploma or higher	94.2%2015-2019	95.8%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Within the margin of error	55%
Home price to income ratio	1.8×2015-2019	2.2×2020-2024	+0.4×	Within the margin of error	57%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3362015-2019	0.3882020-2024	+0.052	Within the margin of error	16%
Median household income	$58,0922015-2019	$75,3212020-2024	+30%	Within the margin of error	55%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	22.6%2015-2019	23.6%2020-2024	+1 points	Within the margin of error	47%
Rent-burdened households	26.7%2015-2019	39.5%2020-2024	+13 points	Within the margin of error	18%

“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 Perry, Michigan five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Perry, 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, Perry, Michigan itself moved −0.9 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

2,073 residents (±425)

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

889 households (±137)

Perry, Michigan
Michigan share

Under $25k22%†200
$25k–50k15%†133
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

889 households (±137)

Perry, Michigan
Michigan share

Own61%545
Rent39%†344

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

† 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

1,055 workers (±182)

Perry, Michigan
Michigan share

Drive alone72%762
Carpool11%†119
Public transit0.0%0

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 Owosso, 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 Shiawassee County, the county holding most of Perry's residents.

Shiawassee County has 1,202 employer establishments, 177 for every 10,000 residents (0.71× the US rate of 248; 0.78× Michigan's), with 14,259 paid employees at an average annual pay of $45,959. The Census Bureau also counts 4,579 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,202; 4,579 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 177; US 248 · Michigan 228
Paid employees: 14,259
Average annual pay: $45,959; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	108	15.9	0.76×Fewer than typical	1,077	$66,549	156
Specialty trade contractors	107	15.8	1.02×About typical	478	$63,264	494
Restaurants and other eating places	96	14.1	0.77×Fewer than typical	1,699	$18,064	17
Limited-service restaurants	53	7.8	0.97×About typical	1,026	$17,588	9
Religious organizations	51	7.5	1.35×More than typical	221	$18,249	—
Building equipment contractors	44	6.5	1.08×About typical	236	$65,864	89
Offices of physicians	39	5.7	0.89×About typical	377	$108,427	17
Automotive repair and maintenance	38	5.6	1.11×About typical	203	$50,709	102
Construction of buildings	32	4.7	0.62×Fewer than typical	154	$60,279	268
Lessors of real estate	32	4.7	0.38×Fewer than typical	103	$47,709	357
Full-service restaurants	31	4.6	0.59×Fewer than typical	570	$19,202	3
Services to buildings and dwellings	31	4.6	0.68×Fewer than typical	75	$44,413	323

Rank places for an industry Open Shiawassee County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 67,916 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 Perry, Michigan: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
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

221.1FY2017

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

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

See federal money in Shiawassee 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.

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

House

Tom BarrettR-MI-7 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 0.7%

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.

Shiawassee County52100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Owosso, MI47

Other cities and towns in Shiawassee 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/2663700

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends