Ferndale is a medium-sized city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 18,969 people and eight associated neighborhoods, Ferndale is the 70th largest community in Michigan. Ferndale has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.Ferndale is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 88.06% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Ferndale is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Ferndale who work in management occupations (14.14%), business and financial occupations (9.16%), and office and administrative support (9.15%). Also of interest is that Ferndale has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Of important note, Ferndale is also a city of artists. Ferndale has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Ferndale’s character. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 20.41% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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. If knowledge is power, Ferndale is a pretty powerful place. 53.07% of the adults in Ferndale have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Ferndale in 2022 was $54,690, which is wealthy relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $218,760 for a family of four. However, Ferndale contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Ferndale is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Ferndale home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Ferndale residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Ferndale include German, Irish, Polish, English, and Italian. The most common language spoken in Ferndale is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
