Saugatuck& Douglas.
Why people choose it
Saugatuck & Douglas
The art coast — dunes, harbor and a short list of premier homes.
- 01
Critical dune designations affect much of the desirable shoreline.
- 02
Saugatuck Township adopted a lakeside overlay district addressing coastal erosion.
- 03
Harbor, river and big-lake frontage are three different purchases.
- 04
Inventory at the top of this market is genuinely thin.
Things to do
The art coast.
Named places, not a mood board. Follow any of them through to the people who run it.
Beach
01
Oval Beach
City-run Lake Michigan beach with parking and concessions; no lifeguards.
Ferry
02
Saugatuck Chain Ferry
A hand-cranked chain ferry has crossed the Kalamazoo River since 1857.
Dunes
03
Mount Baldhead Park
A 303-step stairway climbs the dune to a Cold War radar tower.
State park
04
Saugatuck Dunes State Park
2.5 miles of shoreline, 13 miles of trails and the Patty Birkholz Natural Area.
Art school
05
Ox-Bow School of Art
Founded in 1910, affiliated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Nature preserve
06
Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area
City-owned 173 acres of dune and wetland north of Oval Beach.
Theater
07
Saugatuck Center for the Arts
Culver Street venue for theater, concerts, films and classes.
Museum
08
Saugatuck-Douglas History Museum
Housed in the 1904 pump house that served the town's first water system.
Hours, seasons and access change. Everything above links to the organization that runs it — check there before you drive out to Saugatuck & Douglas.
On the map
Two towns, one harbor.
Saugatuck and Douglas are the art coast: a working harbor, serious dunes and a supply of premier homes so short that buyers often wait for the right one. The dune landscape that makes it beautiful is also state-regulated, so what you may build is a question to settle before the offer.
Water · Kalamazoo River, the harbor and Lake Michigan
- County
- Allegan
- Water
- Kalamazoo River, the harbor and Lake Michigan
- Jurisdictions
- Saugatuck, Douglas and Saugatuck Township
- Schools
- Saugatuck Public Schools, serving both cities
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Open Saugatuck, Michigan in Google MapsPins mark the center of Saugatuck & Douglas and any sample properties nearby. Approximate positions, not surveyed locations.
By the numbers
Two towns, measured.
Two separate cities with separate ordinances, surrounded by a third jurisdiction. Roughly half the housing in both is seasonal, and that single fact drives most of what follows.
- Median home value
$650,800
Saugatuck. Douglas is $426,400; Allegan County is $267,100.
ACS 2020–2024 5-year · Census Reporter
- Population
766 / 1,427
Saugatuck and Douglas, two adjoining cities
ACS 2020–2024 5-year · Census Reporter
- Seasonal homes
451 of 910
Saugatuck. In Douglas, 558 of 1,293.
ACS 2020–2024 5-year · Census Reporter
- Median household income
$121,178
Saugatuck. Douglas is $81,627; Allegan County is $83,283.
ACS 2020–2024 5-year · Census Reporter
- Land area
1.39 / 1.78 sq mi
Saugatuck and Douglas, excluding their water
Census TIGER 2024 · US Census Bureau
- Saugatuck incorporated
1868
An incorporation census that January counted 831 residents
City of Saugatuck · City of Saugatuck
- Douglas home rule city
December 2004
Seven-member council with a city manager
City of the Village of Douglas · City of Douglas
- District enrollment
819
Saugatuck Public Schools, three schools, serving both cities
NCES 2024–25 · NCES
Median owner-occupied home value
The two cities against their county and their state. The art coast is not priced like Allegan County.
- Saugatuck$651K
- Douglas$426K
- Allegan County$267K
- Michigan$232K
ACS 2020–2024 5-year · Census Reporter
Owner-occupied homes by value, Saugatuck
Only about 350 owner-occupied homes in the whole city, and 150 of them are worth three-quarters of a million or more. This is what thin inventory looks like.
- 19
- 3
- 115
- 63
- 73
- 77
- <$200k
- $200–300k
- $300–500k
- $500–750k
- $750k–$1M
- $1M+
ACS 2020–2024 5-year · Census Reporter
On the market
Saugatuck & Douglas property.
SampleThe MLS feed is not connected yet. Everything below is demonstration data used to build the search, and none of it is a real property.
Before you buy
What to lookinto first.
Local conditions that change what a parcel is worth or what may be built on it. None of this is legal advice and none of it answers for a specific address — it is what to raise with the municipality, your attorney and your inspector before the offer, not after.
- 01Rental licenses do not transfer
Saugatuck licenses short-term rentals annually with an inspection, and its certificates are generally non-transferable, becoming void on an attempted transfer of ownership. Douglas permits short-term rentals wherever residential use is allowed, but its certificate is also void on sale and the new owner must reapply. Never price a purchase on the seller's existing license.
City of Saugatuck- 02Douglas rules differ from Saugatuck
These are separate municipalities with separate ordinances, and Saugatuck Township surrounds both. Douglas defines a short-term rental as a let of fewer than 31 consecutive days, permits it wherever residential use is permitted, and issues a certificate on a three-year cycle with fire inspection. Confirm which of the three jurisdictions a parcel sits in before reading any rule across.
City of Douglas- 03Critical dunes and erosion mapping
Saugatuck and Laketown townships are both in EGLE's Atlas of Critical Dunes, and each city carries a high risk erosion designation made in January 1996. The published recession rate is 1.7 feet a year, giving setbacks of 65 feet at 30 years and 115 feet at 60. Building, driveways and septic work on affected parcels need an EGLE permit.
Michigan EGLE- 04PCBs in the Kalamazoo River
The Allied Paper, Portage Creek and Kalamazoo River Superfund site covers 80 miles of river across Allegan and Kalamazoo counties, with polychlorinated biphenyls as the contaminant. Cleanup continues under a 2020 settlement. Check the current state fish-consumption advice for the river and Kalamazoo Lake before assuming unrestricted use of the water.
US EPA- 05Roughly half the homes are seasonal
The survey records 451 of 910 housing units in Saugatuck and 558 of 1,293 in Douglas as seasonal, recreational or occasional use. That shapes winter trade availability, off-season services and how an insurer treats an unoccupied house. Ask how a property is winterized and who checks on it between November and April.
Census Reporter
Check it at the source
Zoning, permitted uses, shoreline rules and school boundaries are set by the governing bodies below and can change. These are the offices that answer for Saugatuck & Douglas.