Big Rapids, Michigan.
Typical home $221,104 (+6.8% in a year), asking rent $1,094 (+12.2%). Big Rapids, MI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$659 (+132%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $14,128 +7%
- $206,976$221,104 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $48,204 +28%
- $172,901$221,104 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.
- Big Rapids$1,161
- Michigan$1,384
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in Big Rapids, MI rose 6.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Big Rapids, MI rose 12.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Living in Big Rapids, Mecosta County, Michigan
Big Rapids is a city of 7,727 people in Mecosta County. Half its households earn more than $43,858 a year and half less, against $60,951 across Mecosta County; 34% of its people live below the poverty line. 42% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 58% are rented. Unemployment in Mecosta County was 5.7% in August 2026, and the county had 3.8% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Big Rapids is a small city in Mecosta County, and it has the feel of a college town: the people who live here are far younger than in most American communities. Incomes run well below the county's, and a good many residents live below the poverty line. Most homes are rented rather than lived in by their owners, and a four-year degree is held by a fair number of adults. Winters are cold and very snowy, with January the coldest month, while summers are pleasantly warm and the year brings a fair amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Schools, hospitals and social care employ more residents than anything else, followed by restaurants, hotels and entertainment, shops and manufacturing. Ferris State University and Corewell Health Big Rapids are the largest workplaces in town, and Original Footwear Manufacturing is among them too. Unemployment across Mecosta County has eased since a year earlier, though the county has fewer jobs than it did the year before. Most people have a short trip to work, and a small share work from home.
Things to do. White Pine Trail State Park, a protected area, runs in or beside town, and Townline Lake is close by as well. The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, also in or beside town, is a museum that draws visitors with serious interest in American history. For a longer drive, the Manistee National Forest offers a large stretch of protected woodland.
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- 3,133households
- 27%of adults have a degree
- 34%below the poverty line
- 15 mintypical commute
- 9%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Mecosta County had 12,262 jobs in 2025, 3.8% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 28° and lows near 13°; warmest in July, with highs near 81° and lows near 57°. About 61 inches of snow and 38 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Big Rapids Wtp weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Big Rapids
- Ferris State UniversityUniversity or college1,491
- Corewell Health Big RapidsGeneral hospital326FTE
- Original Footwear ManufacturingFootwear, women's leather or vinyl upper with rubber or plastics soles, manufacturing320
- Big Rapids ProductsJob stampings, automotive, metal, manufacturing313
- Federal Screw WorksBolts, metal, manufacturing161
- Haworth Big Rapids ComponentsBookcases, office-type, manufacturing155
- Intersect Healthcare of Big RapidsSkilled nursing facilities87
- Haworth Big Rapids WoodBookcases, office-type, manufacturing80
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 14 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,831 people in all. Colleges come from IPEDS (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
- Strong windVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Big Rapids’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Mecosta County and the Big Rapids, MI metro.
Big Rapids home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Big Rapids$221,104
- Michigan$263,760
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Big Rapids listings — 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.
- Big Rapids35.93%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Big Rapids51
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Big Rapids14
Zip codes with a Big Rapids address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Big Rapids — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.