Alden, Michigan.
Typical home $406,985 (+6.2% in a year). Traverse City, MI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,241 (+139%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $23,856 +6%
- $383,128$406,985 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $81,093 +25%
- $325,892$406,985 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Alden$2,136
- Michigan$1,384
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 16 years.
Typical home values in Alden, MI rose 6.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Alden, Antrim County, Michigan
Alden, in Antrim County, had 123 people in the 2020 census. Unemployment in Antrim County was 4.5% in August 2026, and the county had 1.3% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Antrim County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Alden is a very small community in Antrim County, Michigan, with a population well below what most towns count. Its residents are older than in most of the country, and homes here are valued well above what the county's household incomes might suggest. Winters are long and cold, with a great deal of snow, while summers are warm and comfortable for being outdoors.
Work. Residents of Alden work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops and the building trades also employing many. Across Antrim County, the largest workplaces include Elk Rapids Schools, Anchor Lamina America and Mancelona Public Schools. Unemployment across the county is a little lower than a year ago, though the number of jobs has slipped slightly.
Things to do. Water is the main draw around Alden. Torch Lake and Thayer Lake are lakes a short drive away, and the Cedar River is a river just as close for anyone who likes to fish or paddle. For a longer outing, the Au Sable River is a river a longer drive away.
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What people in Antrim County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Antrim County had 5,061 jobs in 2025, 1.3% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 26° and lows near 11°; warmest in July, with highs near 79° and lows near 55°. About 132 inches of snow and 34 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Kalkaska weather station, 12 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Antrim County
- Elk Rapids SchoolsSchool district163FTE
- Anchor Lamina AmericaPlating metals and metal products for the trade145
- Mancelona Public SchoolsSchool district124FTE
- Short's Brewing Company Bellaire PubAle brewing92
- Central Lake Public SchoolsSchool district72FTE
- Burnette FoodsJuices, fruit or vegetable, fresh, manufacturing71
- King OrchardsFruit and tree nut combination farming60
- Short's Brewing CompanyAle brewing55
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 18 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 921 people in all across the county; Alden has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Alden’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Antrim County and the Traverse City, MI metro.
Alden home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Alden$406,985
- Michigan$263,760
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Alden13
Zip codes with a Alden address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Alden — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.