Alpena, Michigan.
Typical home $192,261 (+8.7% in a year). Alpena, MI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$576 (+133%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $15,411 +9%
- $176,850$192,261 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $47,410 +33%
- $144,851$192,261 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.
- Alpena$1,009
- Michigan$1,384
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Alpena, MI rose 8.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Alpena, Alpena County, Michigan
Alpena is a city of 10,197 people in Alpena County. Half its households earn more than $47,545 a year and half less, against $53,950 across Alpena County; 21% of its people live below the poverty line. 66% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 34% are rented. Unemployment in Alpena County was 5.3% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Alpena is a small city in northeastern Michigan, and its residents are older than in most of the country. Incomes here run below the county's, and more people live below the poverty line than most would expect, though most homes are lived in by their owners. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, while summers stay mild and the year brings a fair amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with restaurants, hotels and entertainment, manufacturing and shops also employing a good share. Among the largest workplaces in Alpena are Mymichigan Medical Center Alpena, Alpena Community College and the City of Alpena. Relatively few adults hold a four-year degree, jobs have slipped slightly over the past year, and the daily commute is very short.
Things to do. The Thunder Bay River runs in or beside town, and the Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan is also close at hand. A short drive away is Long Lake, and the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, a protected area, lies a longer drive away.
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- 5,088households
- 16%of adults have a degree
- 21%below the poverty line
- 11 mintypical commute
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Alpena County had 12,115 jobs in 2025, 0.6% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 27° and lows near 13°; warmest in July, with highs near 77° and lows near 59°. About 59 inches of snow and 32 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Alpena Wwtp weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Alpena
- Mymichigan Medical Center AlpenaGeneral hospital662FTE
- Alpena Community CollegeUniversity or college193
- MediLodge of AlpenaNursing homes140
- City of AlpenaLocal government80
- NemrocDimension lumber, hardwood, made from logs or bolts75
- Panel ProcessingStore display fixtures manufacturing49
- AlpenaMail and parcel delivery41
- Veterans Health AdministrationFederal government · Department of Veterans Affairs36
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 15 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 653 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); 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 moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Alpena’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 Alpena County and the Alpena, MI metro.
Alpena home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Alpena$192,261
- 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.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Alpena listings, and the typical home goes pending in 14 days — the market is cooling.
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.
- Alpena29.81%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Alpena14
- United States24
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Alpena116
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Alpena41
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Alpena$169,329
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Alpena address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Alpena — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.