A typical Decatur home is worth roughly $170,000
Home prices around Decatur have risen about 53% over the past 5 years. Builders were permitted 1 new home in 2025.
What kind of housing town is Decatur?
Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.
A typical home costs 2.8 years of income
Less than across Michigan (3.7 years). Try your own numbers below.
That covers a typical Decatur home, with $47K to spare.
A two-bedroom rents for about $970 a month here, $160 less than owning.
How Decatur ranks on affordability →
An estimate, not a loan offer: payments of up to 28% of income, a 30-year fixed loan, Decatur’s typical property tax (1.71% of value a year, from the Census) and insurance of about 0.35%. Mortgage insurance, HOA fees and other debts aren’t included.
Home prices up 53% in 5 years
The federal house price index for the ZIP code around Decatur rose 53% over the past 5 years, about the same as across Michigan. Last year prices rose 6.1%. Carrying the Census median home value forward with that index puts the typical Decatur home at roughly $170,000 today.
Carrying the Census median forward with the index puts a typical home at about $170K.
How Decatur ranks on rising home prices →
Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (annual) for the ZIP codes around Decatur, weighted by land area. It tracks repeat sales of the same homes, so it shows how prices changed, not what homes cost.
77% of Decatur households own their home
Half of Decatur’s homes were built before 1953.
Michigan: 73% own.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024.
A two-bedroom rents for about $970
Renters already here pay a median of $785, so moving in tends to cost more than staying put.
Fair Market Rent a month, utilities included
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents by ZIP code (Cass County, MI HUD Metro FMR Area): the 40th-percentile rent plus utilities for a standard unit. Median rent and renters: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey.
1 new home permitted in 2025
Builders were permitted 1 new home in Decatur in 2025. That's 0.5 per 1,000 residents, slower than across Michigan (2.3). Over the past 10 years, Decatur has permitted 2 homes in all.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, Decatur's population fell by 168 even though 1 new home was permitted. Homes are holding fewer people: households are getting smaller, or more homes are used part of the year. Across Michigan: 1.2 new residents per new home.
Every year as a table
| Year | New homes | Single-family | 2+ per building | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Jan–Aug) | 1 | 1 | 0 | $150,000 |
| 2025 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $150,000 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2021 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $35,000 |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2017 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2016 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2014 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $220,000 |
| 2013 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2011 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2010 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2008 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2007 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $2.1 million |
| 2006 | 3 | 3 | 0 | $214,000 |
| 2005 | 3 | 3 | 0 | $140,000 |
| 2004 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $44,000 |
| 2003 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $88,000 |
| 2002 | 6 | 6 | 0 | $448,000 |
| 2001 | 4 | 4 | 0 | $275,000 |
| 2000 | 3 | 3 | 0 | $325,000 |
Homes authorized by building permits, counted in the year the permit was issued. U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
On the market in Decatur
Listed in the past 60 days. Each opens on the listing site.
Neighbors talk housing
What Decatur buyers, sellers and renters are saying.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Home values: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), Zillow Research. Sales, days on market and supply: Redfin Data Center. Income, ownership, taxes and rent: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. New homes: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey. Price trend: Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index. Fair Market Rents: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Listings link to their publishers. The calculator is an estimate, not a loan offer.