Standish is a city in Arenac County, Michigan. It has 1,554 residents. Standish, Michigan has a quality-of-life score of 36 out of 100 (low), ranking #9,939 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Michigan it ranks #266 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 median household income (low), depression (high) and gyms and fitness centers (low).
36Low
Quality-of-life score
#9,939 of 15,651 cities and towns
Michigan
#266 of 444 in MI
Population
1,554 (2020-2024)
Land area
2 mi²
Density
713.5 /mi²
FIPS code
2676120
Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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
Economy3#15,198/15,631
Housing67#4,974/14,977
Health15#13,238/15,609
Healthcare28#11,191/15,650
Environment84#2,495/15,453
Education37#9,830/15,649
Infrastructure21#12,427/15,650
Community37#9,863/15,651
Leisure & amenities76#3,817/15,651
Strengths · Weaknesses
Indicators where Standish, 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 Standish, Michigan five years ago that improved
The places whose measures looked most like those of Standish, 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: Standish is mostly in Arenac County.
Over about five years, Standish, Michigan improved on 0 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 13 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.
Improved0
No measure improved by more than its margin of error.
Declined0
No measure declined by more than its margin of error.
All 13 measures
Change of every measure of Standish, Michigan between two periods about five years apart
Measure
Before
After
Change
Reading
Favourable vs peers
Average commute time
20.6 min2015-2019
24.8 min2020-2024
+4.2 min
Within the margin of error
13%
Bachelor's degree or higher
12.0%2015-2019
13.7%2020-2024
+1.7 points
Within the margin of error
41%
Broadband subscriptions
74.1%2015-2019
81.1%2020-2024
+7 points
Within the margin of error
44%
Effective property tax rate
1.83%2015-2019
1.54%2020-2024
−0.3 points
Within the margin of error
73%
High school diploma or higher
86.5%2015-2019
85.1%2020-2024
−1.3 points
Within the margin of error
20%
Home price to income ratio
2.3×2015-2019
2.8×2020-2024
+0.5×
Within the margin of error
48%
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.4702015-2019
0.4472020-2024
−0.023
Within the margin of error
69%
Median household income
$32,4462015-2019
$35,3952020-2024
+9.1%
Within the margin of error
16%
Poverty rate
26.0%2015-2019
20.1%2020-2024
−5.9 points
Within the margin of error
84%
Rent as share of income
28.1%2015-2019
28.3%2020-2024
+0.2 points
Within the margin of error
53%
Rent-burdened households
42.4%2015-2019
41.0%2020-2024
−1.5 points
Within the margin of error
61%
Unemployment rate
4.6%2015-2019
8.5%2020-2024
+3.9 points
Within the margin of error
6%
Uninsured residents (under 65)
4.2%2015-2019
6.8%2020-2024
+2.7 points
Within the margin of error
21%
“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, Standish, Michigan itself moved −3.9 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.
Household income
724 households (±89)
Standish, Michigan
Michigan share
Under $25k32%229
Under $25k
32%±8.6 points
229 households±68 (90% margin of error)
16%in Michigan
15%in United States
−5.3 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
$25k–50k30%†215
$25k–50k
30%±9.3 points
215 households±72 (90% margin of error)
19%in Michigan
17%in United States
−4.2 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$50k–75k14%†101
$50k–75k
14%±4.2 points
101 households±33 (90% margin of error)
17%in Michigan
16%in United States
+1.3 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$75k–100k4.3%†31
$75k–100k
4.3%±1.9 points
31 households±14 (90% margin of error)
13%in Michigan
13%in United States
−2.8 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$100k–150k14%†104
$100k–150k
14%±4.9 points
104 households±38 (90% margin of error)
17%in Michigan
18%in United States
+10.4 pointssince 2015–2019
Wide margin of error: read with care
$150k–200k4.0%†29
$150k–200k
4.0%±2.0 points
29 households±15 (90% margin of error)
8.6%in Michigan
9.6%in United States
+0.8 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$200k or more2.1%†15
$200k or more
2.1%±1.4 points
15 households±10 (90% margin of error)
9.5%in Michigan
13%in United States
−0.2 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
Biggest shift since 2015–2019: $100k–150k (+10.4 points).
† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.
The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Arenac County, the county holding most of Standish'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.
No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.
