Alger, Michigan.
Typical home $159,100 (+9.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$422 (+102%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $13,361 +9%
- $145,739$159,100 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $29,444 +23%
- $129,657$159,100 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.
- Alger$835
- Michigan$1,384
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 17 years.
Typical home values in Alger, MI rose 9.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Alger, Gladwin County, Michigan
The Census does not count Alger on its own, so the figures here are Gladwin County's. Half the county's households earn more than $55,349 a year and half less; 15% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 86% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 14% are rented. Unemployment in Gladwin County was 5.8% in August 2026, and the county had 2.1% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Gladwin County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Alger sits in Gladwin County, in the north-central part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, where winters are colder and snowier than most of the country and summers are warm. Across Gladwin County, the population is older than most of the country, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Fewer adults here hold a four-year degree than across the country.
Work. Schools, hospitals and social care, manufacturing, shops and the building trades are where most residents work. Unemployment across Gladwin County has eased over the past year, though the number of jobs has dipped slightly. Relatively few people work from home, so commuting is a regular part of daily life.
Things to do. Au Sable State Forest, a protected area in or beside town, is the closest place to spend time outdoors. The Molasses River and Backus Creek State Game Area, a park, are a longer drive away.
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- 11,280households
- 50.7median age
- 17%of adults have a degree
- 15%below the poverty line
- 30 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What people in Gladwin County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Gladwin County had 4,495 jobs in 2025, 2.1% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 27° and lows near 10°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 56°. About 53 inches of snow and 34 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the West Branch 3SE weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Gladwin County
- Saint-GobainExtruded, molded or lathe-cut rubber goods manufacturing245
- Gladwin Community SchoolsSchool district230FTE
- East Jordan Plastics BeavertonUtility containers, plastics, manufacturing159
- BrownCabs for agricultural machinery manufacturing155
- ABM IndustriesService to buildings and dwellings149
- Master ElectricElectrical, electrical wiring, and low voltage electrical work144
- Beaverton SchoolsSchool district139FTE
- Mymichigan Medical Center GladwinCritical access hospital135FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 20 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,635 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Gladwin County, 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 Gladwin County.
Alger home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Alger$159,100
- Michigan$263,760
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Alger listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Alger29.09%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Alger26
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Alger6
Zip codes with a Alger address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Alger — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.