Traverse City is a medium-sized city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 15,702 people and 19 associated neighborhoods, Traverse City is the 79th largest community in Michigan. Much of the housing stock in Traverse City was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country. Traverse City real estate is some of the most expensive in Michigan, although Traverse City house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Traverse City is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Traverse City is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Traverse City who work in sales jobs (12.59%), management occupations (8.20%), and teaching (8.04%). Of important note, Traverse City is also a city of artists. Traverse City has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Traverse City’s character. Also of interest is that Traverse City has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 13.99% 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. One of the benefits of Traverse City is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.44 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.The citizens of Traverse City are among the most well-educated in the nation: 45.83% of adults in Traverse City 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 Traverse City in 2022 was $47,193, which is wealthy relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $188,772 for a family of four. However, Traverse City contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. The people who call Traverse City home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Traverse City residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Traverse City include German, English, Irish, Polish, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in Traverse City is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
