Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant 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. Mount Pleasant’s economy is one such example of this.
Mount Pleasant, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.
One of the benefits of Mount Pleasant is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 15.36 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.
Mount Pleasant is one of the most well-educated cities in the nation. 44.25% of adults in Mount Pleasant have at least a bachelor's degree. Compare that to the average community in America, which has just 21.84% with a bachelor's degree or higher.
The per capita income in Mount Pleasant in 2022 was $23,962, which is low income relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $95,848 for a family of four. However, Mount Pleasant contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Mount Pleasant also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 34.44% of its population below the federal poverty line.
Mount Pleasant is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Mount Pleasant home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Mount Pleasant residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Mount Pleasant include German, Irish, English, Polish, and Italian.
The most common language spoken in Mount Pleasant is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
