Sears, Michigan.
Typical home $202,227 (+6.3% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$632 (+147%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $11,954 +6%
- $190,273$202,227 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $36,209 +22%
- $166,018$202,227 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.
- Sears$1,061
- Michigan$1,384
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 18 years.
Typical home values in Sears, MI rose 6.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Sears, Osceola County, Michigan
The Census does not count Sears on its own, so the figures here are Osceola County's. Half the county's households earn more than $58,267 a year and half less; 16% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 84% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 16% are rented. Unemployment in Osceola County was 5.2% in August 2026, and the county had 4.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Osceola County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Sears is a small town in Osceola County, in northern Michigan. Most of the county's homes are lived in by their owners, a larger share than across the country as a whole. The county's residents are older on average than the nation's, and its household incomes are below the nation's, with more people living below the poverty line than across the country.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in manufacturing, in shops, or in the building trades. Unemployment in the county has come down over the past year, though the number of jobs has dropped slightly since the year before. Fewer adults hold a degree than across the country, and few people work from home, so most commutes are made outside the house.
Things to do. Lost Lake is a lake a short drive away, and the Middle Branch River is a river a short drive away. White Pine Trail State Park, a protected area, is a longer drive away. Winters are cold and snowy, while summers are warm, so the lakes and rivers are most visited from late spring to early autumn.
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- 9,356households
- 43.9median age
- 17%of adults have a degree
- 16%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What people in Osceola County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Osceola County had 7,692 jobs in 2025, 4.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 28° and lows near 13°; warmest in July, with highs near 81° and lows near 57°. About 61 inches of snow and 38 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Big Rapids Wtp weather station, 20 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Osceola County
- The Hydaker-Wheatlake CompanyTransmission and distribution line construction1,287
- Utility Supply & ConstructionTransmission and distribution line construction1,261
- Ventra EvartBumpers and bumperettes assembled, automotive, truck, and bus, manufacturing601
- Yoplait-LactalisYogurt mix manufacturing414
- General Mills Yoplait Reed CityBeverages, dietary, dairy and nondairy based410
- Power Line SupplyTransmission and distribution line construction373
- Lume CultivationHydroponic crop farming202
- Reed City Area Public SchoolsSchool district194FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 28 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 5,988 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
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Osceola County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very 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 Osceola County.
Sears home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Sears$202,227
- Michigan$263,760
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Sears10
Zip codes with a Sears address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Sears — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.