Port Austin is a tiny village located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 663 people and just one neighborhood, Port Austin is the 539th largest community in Michigan.
Unlike some villages where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Port Austin is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Port Austin is a village of sales and office workers, managers, and transportation and shipping workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Port Austin who work in management occupations (16.61%), office and administrative support (16.28%), and sales jobs (15.28%).
There are many members of the armed forces living in Port Austin. You will notice when you visit or live here that some of the people you meet or see around town are employed by the armed services - even if they are not always in uniform.
Another notable thing is that Port Austin is a major vacation destination. Much of the village’s population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependent on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, Port Austin’s population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live.
It is a fairly quiet village because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Port Austin has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Port Austin has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Port Austin than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Port Austin may be for you.
For a small village, Port Austin has a lot of people who use public transit to get to work, and those that do mostly ride the bus. This suggests that a real need for low-cost transportation in Port Austin exists, and local transit is helping to meet that need.
The overall education level of Port Austin is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 26.45% of adults 25 and older in the village have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Port Austin in 2022 was $34,540, which is upper middle income relative to Michigan, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $138,160 for a family of four. However, Port Austin contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Port Austin is a very ethnically-diverse village. The people who call Port Austin home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Port Austin residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Port Austin also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 14.84% of the village’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Port Austin include German, Polish, Irish, English, and French.
The most common language spoken in Port Austin is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
If you are planning to retire in Michigan, this neighborhood should be on your must-see list. For many reasons, may be considered a retiree's dream neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and metrics, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety from crime compared to other neighborhoods in Michigan, while also offering a diverse range of housing options. This, along with the vibrant mix of very educated seniors and other age groups who choose to live here, makes the neighborhood more retiree-friendly than 99.4% of neighborhoods in MI. If a Michigan retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit.
In addition, astoundingly, the neighborhood has one of the highest concentrations of divorcees living here than of any neighborhood, a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.5% of U.S. neighborhoods. This may be because people living here divorce more often than others, or that divorced people move here after they become divorced. If you are divorced, you will be in good company in this particular Port Austin neighborhood.
Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 57.0% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 99.2% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
In addition, one of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.
The neighborhood stands out nationally for having a greater proportion of its residents active in the military than 95.8% of other U.S. neighborhoods. If you come here, you will notice military people active in their jobs, going to and from work, and in plain clothes out and about the neighborhood.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Polish and Belgian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 24.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Polish ancestry and 0.9% have Belgian ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 26.1% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Polish at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.9% of the neighborhoods in America.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Port Austin are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 79.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 26.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 77.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 30.0% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 24.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (23.6%), and 19.6% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 91.4% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Port Austin, MI, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (24.4%). There are also a number of people of Polish ancestry (24.2%), and residents who report Irish roots (15.9%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (11.5%), along with some Puerto Rican ancestry residents (5.9%), among others.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (34.7% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (72.4%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (7.9%) and 6.7% of residents also ride the bus for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.