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Otter Lake, MI

This is a small community in a single neighborhood. As throughout the site, some neighborhood-level data are reserved for subscribers.





Overview


Otter Lake is a tiny village located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 358 people and just one neighborhood, Otter Lake is the 581st largest community in Michigan. Otter Lake has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic villages.

Occupations and Workforce

Otter Lake is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Otter Lake is a village of sales and office workers, production and manufacturing workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Otter Lake who work in sales jobs (24.32%), office and administrative support (11.89%), and teaching (7.03%).

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 7.95% 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.

Setting & Lifestyle

The village is relatively quiet, having a combination of lower population density and few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. For example, Otter Lake has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Otter Lake a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.

In Otter Lake, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 34.23 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.

Otter Lake is a small village, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.

Demographics

In Otter Lake, just 9.35% of people over 25 hold a college degree, which is very low compared to the rest of the nation, whereas the average among all cities is 21.84%.

The per capita income in Otter Lake in 2022 was $30,488, 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 $121,952 for a family of four. However, Otter Lake contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Otter Lake home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Otter Lake residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Otter Lake include German, English, Irish, Polish, and Italian.

The most common language spoken in Otter Lake is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Italian.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Otter Lake, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

Real Estate

One of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.

Length of Commute

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. 9.7% 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 95.3% of all neighborhoods in America.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Finnish and Irish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Finnish ancestry and 25.1% have Irish ancestry.

Migration / Stability

Do you like to be surrounded by people from all over the country or world, with different perspectives and life experiences? Or do you instead prefer to be in a neighborhood where most residents have lived there for a long time, creating a sense of cohesiveness? NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood stands out among American neighborhoods for the uniqueness of the mobility of its residents. More residents of the neighborhood live here today that also were living in this same neighborhood five years ago than is found in 96.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. This neighborhood is really made up of people who know each other, don't move often, and have lived here in this very neighborhood for quite a while.

The Neighbors

How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.

The neighbors in the neighborhood in Otter Lake are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 48.1% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 4.0% 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 67.6% of America's neighborhoods.

A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.

In the neighborhood, 32.2% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 30.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (21.6%), and 15.6% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 99.3% of households. Some people also speak Polish (5.8%).

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.

In the neighborhood in Otter Lake, MI, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (25.6%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (25.1%), and residents who report English roots (18.2%), and some of the residents are also of Polish ancestry (8.6%), along with some French ancestry residents (5.4%), among others.

Getting to Work

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 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (33.9% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.

Here most residents (79.1%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (11.2%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


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Economics & Demographics include:
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Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
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Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
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Schools include:
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