Houghton Lake is a somewhat small town located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 5,294 people and five associated neighborhoods, Houghton Lake is the 183rd largest community in Michigan.Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Houghton Lake is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Houghton Lake is a town of sales and office workers, service providers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Houghton Lake who work in sales jobs (15.88%), office and administrative support (12.39%), and food service (6.15%). One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 9.84% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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 Houghton Lake is an extremely popular vacation destination. A significant portion of the population is seasonal. During the vacation season, the town experiences a large influx of people who take up residence in second homes they own in the area. As the vacation season ends, the population drops again, leaving behind a substantially quieter and smaller town. It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Houghton Lake has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Houghton Lake has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Houghton Lake than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Houghton Lake may be for you. Being a small town, Houghton Lake does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.In terms of college education, the citizens of Houghton Lake rank slightly lower than the national average. 14.26% of adults 25 and older in Houghton Lake have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree, while 21.84% of adults have a 4-year degree or higher in the average American community. The per capita income in Houghton Lake in 2022 was $28,527, which is middle income relative to Michigan, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $114,108 for a family of four. However, Houghton Lake contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. The people who call Houghton Lake home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Houghton Lake residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Houghton Lake include German, English, Polish, French Canadian, and Irish. The most common language spoken in Houghton Lake is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Italian.
