Decatur, Michigan.
Typical home $213,026 (+2.2% in a year). South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$517 (+86%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $4,505 +2%
- $208,521$213,026 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $17,399 +9%
- $195,626$213,026 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.
- Decatur$1,118
- Michigan$1,384
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 41 years.
Typical home values in Decatur, MI rose 2.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Decatur, Van Buren County, Michigan
Decatur is a village of 1,651 people in Van Buren County. Half its households earn more than $61,806 a year and half less, against $68,114 across Van Buren County. 77% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 23% are rented. Unemployment in Van Buren County was 4.6% in August 2026, and the county had 0.1% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Decatur is a small village in Van Buren County, with a younger population than many towns its size. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and typical household incomes run below the county's. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and winters are cold, with the coldest weather in January, while summers are warm and the year brings a fair amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Residents work mainly in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in banks, insurance and property, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Among the largest workplaces in Decatur are Special-Lite Decatur, a metal door and window frame manufacturer, Midwest Fastener Corp Decatur, a hardware wholesaler, and Decatur Public Schools. Unemployment across Van Buren County has run a little lower than a year ago, though the county has about the same number of jobs as before.
Things to do. Gravel Lake is a lake a short drive away, and Newton Woods, a protected area, is also a short drive away. For a longer outing, the Kal-Haven Trail is a trail a longer drive away, and the Air Zoo, an amusement park, is a longer drive away as well.
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- 739households
- 15%of adults have a degree
- 23 mintypical commute
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Van Buren County had 21,582 jobs in 2025, 0.1% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 31° and lows near 16°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 60°. About 42 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Dowagiac West weather station, 12 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Decatur
- Special-Lite DecaturFrames, door and window, metal, manufacturing195
- Midwest Fastener Corp DecaturHardware merchant wholesalers180
- Decatur Public SchoolsSchool district82FTE
- Murk's Village Market28
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 403 people in all. 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
- HailRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Decatur’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively 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 Van Buren County and the South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI metro.
Decatur home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Decatur$213,026
- Michigan$263,760
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Decatur 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.
- Decatur32.61%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Decatur25
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Decatur8
Zip codes with a Decatur address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Decatur — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.