Mount Pleasant is also a major college town with a large number of people who are 18 years or older and attending college. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in Mount Pleasant have a strong influence on the local culture and entertainment scene, which may seem dormant by comparison in the summer months when much of the student population is away. In the fall, the return of students has a reinvigorating effect on the community. Because colleges are lasting institutions, they have a stabilizing effect on the economy by providing direct local benefits such as jobs for faculty and staff and spending by students. Mount Pleasant’s economy is one such example of this.
Mount Pleasant, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.
Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 15.36 minutes getting to work every day.
The citizens of Mount Pleasant are among the most well-educated in the nation: 44.25% of adults in Mount Pleasant have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Mount Pleasant in 2022 was $23,962, which is low income relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $95,848 for a family of four. However, Mount Pleasant contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Mount Pleasant also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 34.44% of its population below the federal poverty line.
Mount Pleasant is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Mount Pleasant home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Mount Pleasant residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Mount Pleasant include German, Irish, English, Polish, and Italian.
The most common language spoken in Mount Pleasant is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
