Clare, Michigan.
Typical home $224,350 (+10.5% in a year). Mount Pleasant, MI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$669 (+131%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $21,297 +10%
- $203,053$224,350 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $47,704 +27%
- $176,646$224,350 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.
- Clare$1,178
- 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 Clare, MI rose 10.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Clare, Clare County, Michigan
Clare is a city of 3,254 people in Clare County. 59% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 41% are rented. Unemployment in Clare County was 6.1% in August 2026, and the county had 5.6% more 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Clare is a small city in central Michigan, and its residents skew older than the typical American town. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and homes here cost less than in much of the country. Incomes sit below the national picture, and a good share of residents live below the poverty line. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, while summers turn warm in July, and the year brings a fair amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by restaurants and hotels, shops, and the building trades. Among the largest workplaces in Clare are Mymichigan Medical Center Clare, Clare Public Schools and Medilodge of Clare. Unemployment in the county has eased over the past year, and the county has added jobs, though a smaller share of adults here hold a four-year degree than in many places.
Things to do. Lake Thirteen is a lake a short drive away, and it is the closest of the nearby waters. Farther out, a longer drive brings you to Budd Lake and to Wilson State Park, a protected area. The Cedar River is another longer drive away, a river for anyone who likes time by the water.
Report a mistake
- 1,409households
- 22%of adults have a degree
- 19%below the poverty line
- 12%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Clare County had 7,670 jobs in 2025, 5.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 30° and lows near 16°; warmest in July, with highs near 84° and lows near 61°. About 35 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Central Michigan Univ weather station, 17 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Clare
- Mymichigan Medical Center ClareGeneral hospital329FTE
- Clare Public SchoolsSchool district200FTE
- Integrity Assessment GroupNon-destructive testing laboratories or services181
- Rite Hite Clare FacilityMachine shops115
- Medilodge of ClareSkilled nursing facilities94
- Veterans Health AdministrationFederal government · Department of Veterans Affairs63
- Consumers EnergyDistribution of electric power57
- xcal tools clareMachine shops56
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 9 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 599 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), school districts from the Common Core of Data (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
- Winter weatherVery high
- Strong windVery high
- LightningRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- HailRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Clare’s 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 Clare County and the Mount Pleasant, MI metro.
Clare home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Clare$224,350
- Michigan$263,760
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Clare 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.
- Clare27.74%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Clare21
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Clare7
Zip codes with a Clare address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Clare — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.