Iron River, Michigan.
Typical home $124,995 (+5.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$384 (+141%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $6,183 +5%
- $118,812$124,995 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $36,768 +42%
- $88,228$124,995 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.
- Iron River$656
- Michigan$1,384
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 10 years.
Typical home values in Iron River, MI rose 5.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Iron River, Iron County, Michigan
Iron River is a city of 3,007 people in Iron County. Half its households earn more than $54,183 a year and half less, against $55,940 across Iron County; 21% of its people live below the poverty line. 70% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 30% are rented. Unemployment in Iron County was 6.2% in August 2026, and the county had 1.1% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in restaurants and hotels, 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Iron River is a small city in Iron County, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and typical home values are modest. Household incomes run a little below the county's, and a good many residents live below the poverty line. The population is older than in much of the country, and a four-year degree is less common among adults here than in many places. Winters are long and cold, with January the coldest month, and snowfall is heavy. Summers are mild and warm, with July the warmest month.
Work. Many residents work in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, or in professional and business services. Among the largest workplaces in Iron River are J.F. Leman & Company, a naval ship builder, and Aspirus Iron River Hospital & Clinic, a critical access hospital. Commutes are short, and some people work from home. Across Iron County, unemployment has eased slightly over the past year, though the number of jobs has dipped a little.
Things to do. Close to town, Hagerman Lake and Bewabic State Park are both a short drive away, and Ski Brule, a ski area, is also a short drive off. The Iron River and the Net River run nearby for those who like to fish or paddle. A longer drive brings you to the Ottawa National Forest, a large protected area of woods and waters.
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- 1,314households
- 21%of adults have a degree
- 21%below the poverty line
- 11 mintypical commute
- 14%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Iron County had 3,371 jobs in 2025, 1.1% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 21° and lows near 0°; warmest in July, with highs near 77° and lows near 50°. About 67 inches of snow and 31 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Stambaugh 2SSE weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Iron River
- J.F. Leman & CompanyNaval ship building126
- Aspirus Iron River Hopsital & ClinicCritical access hospital119FTE
- Hebert Construction CompanyPavement, highway, road, street, bridge or airport runway, construction24
- Iron River Family FoodsSupermarkets20
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 405 people in all. Hospitals come 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- HailRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Iron River’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. 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 Iron County.
Iron River home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Iron River$124,995
- Michigan$263,760
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Iron River 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.
- Iron River19.78%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Iron River42
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Iron River7
Zip codes with a Iron River address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Iron River — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.