Ypsilanti is a medium-sized city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 20,150 people and 37 associated neighborhoods, Ypsilanti is the 65th largest community in Michigan.Ypsilanti is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Ypsilanti is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Ypsilanti who work in teaching (11.21%), sales jobs (10.13%), and food service (9.47%). Of important note, Ypsilanti is also a city of artists. Ypsilanti has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Ypsilanti’s character. Also of interest is that Ypsilanti 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: 15.17% 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. Ypsilanti 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 Ypsilanti 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. Ypsilanti’s economy is one such example of this. A lot of people in Ypsilanti take the bus for their daily commute. For the size of the city, the number of people who use public transportation is quite high. For many people in Ypsilanti, this fills their need for low-cost transportation.The citizens of Ypsilanti are among the most well-educated in the nation: 45.84% of adults in Ypsilanti 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 Ypsilanti in 2022 was $32,270, which is middle income relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $129,080 for a family of four. However, Ypsilanti contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Ypsilanti is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Ypsilanti home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Ypsilanti residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Ypsilanti include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Ypsilanti is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.
