Howell, Michigan.
Typical home $383,677 (+2.4% in a year), asking rent $1,824 (+4.5%). Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,060 (+111%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $9,131 +2%
- $374,546$383,677 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $72,970 +23%
- $310,707$383,677 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.
- Howell$2,014
- Michigan$1,384
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 16 years.
Typical home values in Howell, MI rose 2.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Howell, MI rose 4.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Howell runs $910/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $935 in Oct 2023.
That is $2,734 a month against $1,824 rent: a $2,014 mortgage payment, plus $310 property tax and $411 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Howell
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$2,734
- Renting$1,824
- Mortgage only$2,014
Property tax · $310/mo 0.97% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Livingston County, MI
Insurance & upkeep · $411/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Howell, Livingston County, Michigan
Howell is a city of 10,068 people in Livingston County. Half its households earn more than $60,449 a year and half less, against $103,039 across Livingston County; 8% of its people live below the poverty line. 54% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 46% are rented. Unemployment in Livingston County was 4.2% in August 2026, and the county had 0.5% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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. Howell is a small city and the seat of Livingston County, with a median age a little above the national middle and a population that has settled in over time. Incomes here run well below the county's, and homes are lived in by their owners somewhat more often than not, though renters make up a real part of the town. Winters are cold and snowy, summers are warm, and precipitation is fairly steady through the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by manufacturing, shops, and restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Among the largest workplaces in Howell are Trinity Health Livingston, Howell Public Schools and PepsiCo. Commutes are typical for a county town, and fewer people work from home than commute to a job elsewhere.
Things to do. Howell Opera House, a theatre in or beside town, is the nearest cultural draw. A short drive away are the Red Cedar River and Mount Brighton, a ski area that suits the snowy winters. Farther afield, Kensington Metropark offers a longer drive into open parkland.
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- 4,862households
- 31%of adults have a degree
- 8%below the poverty line
- 30 mintypical commute
- 9%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Livingston County had 64,689 jobs in 2025, 0.5% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 31° and lows near 14°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 58°. About 33 inches of snow and 33 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Howell Wwtp weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Howell
- Thai Summit America (2)Job stampings, automotive, metal, manufacturing829
- Trinity Health LivingstonGeneral hospital718FTE
- Howell Public SchoolsSchool district712FTE
- PepsiCoSoft drink manufacturing424
- Chem-TrendLubricating oils and greases, synthetic, manufacturing185
- Medilodge of HowellSkilled nursing facilities181
- DisplayMaxPlumbing fixture installation152
- Kroger Michigan KMASupermarkets and other grocery except convenience stores132
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 15 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,955 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts 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
- Strong windRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Howell’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 Livingston County and the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI metro.
Howell home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Howell$383,677
- Michigan$263,760
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Howell listings, and the typical home goes pending in 9 days — 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.
- Howell27.02%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Howell9
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Howell198
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Howell90
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Howell$397,001
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Howell100.37%
Zip codes with a Howell address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Howell — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zip codes in Howell
| Zip activate to sort by Zip | Place activate to sort by Place | Population sorted descending, activate to sort ascending | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48843 | Howell | 48,014 | $1,811 | $386,533 |
| 48855 | Howell | 16,668 | — | $380,685 |