Hillsdale is a somewhat small city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 8,030 people and three associated neighborhoods, Hillsdale is the 139th largest community in Michigan. Hillsdale has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.Unlike some cities, Hillsdale isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Hillsdale are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Hillsdale is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Hillsdale who work in food service (11.54%), teaching (10.13%), and office and administrative support (9.61%). Of important note, Hillsdale is also a city of artists. Hillsdale has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Hillsdale’s character. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 7.71% 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.Hillsdale is also a college town, where lots of students live while attending area colleges. Because of the high percentage of people living in Hillsdale enrolled in college, Hillsdale has a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards the needs and activities of students. One of the benefits of Hillsdale is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 17.11 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 Hillsdale are slightly better educated than the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns, with 23.20% of adults in Hillsdale having a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. The per capita income in Hillsdale in 2022 was $22,339, which is low income relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $89,356 for a family of four. However, Hillsdale contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. The people who call Hillsdale home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Hillsdale residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Hillsdale include German, English, Irish, Polish, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in Hillsdale is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
