Saugatuck is a tiny city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 875 people and just one neighborhood, Saugatuck is the 504th largest community in Michigan. Much of the housing stock in Saugatuck was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.
Saugatuck home prices are not only among the most expensive in Michigan, but Saugatuck real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Saugatuck is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Saugatuck is a city of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Saugatuck who work in management occupations (24.43%), business and financial occupations (13.64%), and sales jobs (9.66%).
A relatively large number of people in Saugatuck telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 30.57% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
Another notable thing is that Saugatuck is a major vacation destination. Much of the city’s population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependent on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, Saugatuck’s population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live.
In addition, Saugatuck is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.
Saugatuck is a good choice for families with children because of several factors. Many other families with children live here, making it a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families. The city’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic success. Many people own their own single-family homes, providing areas for children to play and stability in the community. Finally, Saugatuck’s overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.
One downside of living in Saugatuck is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Saugatuck, the average commute to work is 34.83 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average.
Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Saugatuck. 75.47% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%.
The per capita income in Saugatuck in 2022 was $88,246, which is wealthy relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $352,984 for a family of four. However, Saugatuck contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Saugatuck home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Saugatuck residents report their race to be White, followed by Native American. Important ancestries of people in Saugatuck include Irish, German, English, Dutch, and Swedish.
The most common language spoken in Saugatuck is English. Other important languages spoken here include French and Spanish.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
A majority of the adults in the neighborhood are wealthy and educated executives. They own stately homes that tend to maintain high real estate appreciation rates. Their upper-level careers keep them busy, but allow them to live comfortably. If you're an executive and want to keep similar company, consider settling in this neighborhood, rated as an executive lifestyle "best choice" neighborhood for Michigan by NeighborhoodScout's analysis, which rated it as better for executive lifestyles than 99.3% of the neighborhoods in Michigan. In addition to being an excellent choice for highly educated executives, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for active retirees and urban sophisticates.
In addition, with more than 1.8% of residents living with a same sex partner, is truly a neighborhood that stands out from the rest in this regard. In fact, exclusive analysis by NeighborhoodScout reveals that this neighborhood has a greater concentration of same sex couples than 96.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 16.8% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.1% of all neighborhoods in America.
Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 52.0% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 98.9% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Dutch and British ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 13.7% of this neighborhood's residents have Dutch ancestry and 3.3% have British ancestry.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Saugatuck are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 83.4% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 9.7% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 50.7% of America's neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 67.0% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 17.7% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (13.2%), and 2.1% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.4% of households.
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Saugatuck, MI, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (19.4%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (16.6%), and residents who report Irish roots (16.3%), and some of the residents are also of Dutch ancestry (13.7%), along with some Swedish ancestry residents (5.8%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (41.3% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans. However, there is also a significant group of residents (16.8%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (69.2%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.