Ionia, Michigan.
Typical home $229,964 (+5.4% in a year). Grand Rapids-Kentwood, MI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$691 (+134%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $11,712 +5%
- $218,252$229,964 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $49,336 +27%
- $180,628$229,964 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.
- Ionia$1,207
- 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 Ionia, MI rose 5.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Ionia, Ionia County, Michigan
Ionia is a city of 13,378 people in Ionia County. Half its households earn more than $63,978 a year and half less, against $75,611 across Ionia County; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. 60% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 40% are rented. Unemployment in Ionia County was 4.3% in August 2026, and the county had 1.6% more 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Ionia is a small city in Michigan where most homes are lived in by their owners, though fewer adults hold a four-year degree than in many places. Household incomes sit below the county's, and the population is somewhat younger than in much of the country. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, while July brings warm but not extreme summer days.
Work. Residents work mainly in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, and in shops, with restaurants and hotels also employing many. Among the largest workplaces in Ionia are Ventra Ionia, an automobile body maker, Ionia ISD, the local school district, and Sparrow Ionia Hospital. The commute is fairly short, and few people work from home.
Things to do. Ionia State Recreation Area, a protected area, is a short drive away and the closest of the nearby outdoor places. Farther afield, a longer drive reaches Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, a botanical garden, and the North Country Trail, a long-distance trail for walking.
Report a mistake
- 3,939households
- 10%of adults have a degree
- 12%below the poverty line
- 22 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Ionia County had 18,832 jobs in 2025, 1.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 29° and lows near 16°; warmest in July, with highs near 81° and lows near 60°. About 54 inches of snow and 36 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Ionia 2SSW weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Ionia
- Ventra IoniaAutomobile bodies, passenger car, manufacturing1,100
- Ionia ISDSchool district276FTE
- Ionia CountyGovernment265
- Sparrow Ionia HospitalCritical access hospital201FTE
- Matcor Automotive (Michigan)Motor vehicle metal stampings manufacturing163
- Optalis Health & RehabilitationNursing homes99
- Life EMS Inc.-IoniaAmbulance services, air or ground32
- IoniaMail and parcel delivery25
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 8 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,729 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (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 windRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively 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 Ionia’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 Ionia County and the Grand Rapids-Kentwood, MI metro.
Ionia home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Ionia$229,964
- Michigan$263,760
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Ionia 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.
- Ionia23.54%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Ionia35
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Ionia16
Zip codes with a Ionia address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Ionia — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.