Compare legal limits, fees and the true cost of small loans in your state before you talk to any lender. Compare legal limits, fees and the true cost of small loans in your state.
Pawn Shops vs Payday Loans in Michigan
159 pawn shops in 80 cities and towns across Michigan. Pick a city for the full list with addresses and phone numbers, or scroll down for the smaller towns.
Michigan has about 10,051,577 residents, so that's 1.6 pawn shops per 100,000 people (U.S.: 2.7). For comparison, there are 1.4 payday, installment and title loan stores per 100,000 people in Michigan.
- Pawn shops
- 159
- Cities & towns
- 80
- Pawn shops per 100k
- 1.6
- Loan stores
- 137
- List a phone
- 100.0%
- Have a website
- 78.6%
Pawn shops vs payday loan stores in Michigan
Michigan has 159 pawn shops and 137 payday, installment and title loan stores.
Pawn shops
159
1.6 per 100k residents
Payday & loan stores
137
1.4 per 100k residents
5 store chains
Biggest loan store chains in Michigan: Advance America (69), Check 'n Go (35), OneMain Financial (26), Check Into Cash (6), loanDepot (1).
Borrowing $500 for one month: payday vs pawn vs credit union
| Option | How it works | Cost for one month |
|---|---|---|
| Payday loan (~369% APR) | $75.00 fee every 2 weeks, renewed once | $150.00 |
| Pawn loan (example: 20% a month) | You leave an item worth more than the loan; repay to get it back | $100.00 |
| Credit union PAL (28% APR + $20 fee) | Repaid in installments; membership required | $31.67 |
- Payday cost, share of monthly household income in Michigan
- 2.4%
- Pawn cost, share of monthly household income in Michigan
- 1.6%
- A $400 emergency equals
- 1.9 days of income
Payday: a typical fee of $75 on a $500 loan for 2 weeks, paid twice for a one-month loan (Michigan payday rules are not set in dollars or payday loans are not allowed). Pawn: an example rate of 20% a month; pawn fees and interest are set by Michigan law and vary by shop — ask for the total in writing. PAL: payday alternative loan from a federal credit union, capped at 28% APR plus an application fee of up to $20.
Pawn loan vs payday loan: the key differences
| Pawn loan | Payday loan in MI | |
|---|---|---|
| What you need | An item of value (jewelry, gold, electronics, tools, firearms) and an ID | A bank account, proof of income and an ID |
| Credit check | None | Usually none |
| How much you get | A fraction of the item's resale value | Based on your income, up to the state limit |
| If you can't repay | The shop keeps the item; no collections and no credit damage | Fees pile up with renewals; the debt can go to collections |
| Bank account access | None | Lender can debit your account or cash your check |
| Rules in Michigan | Pawnbrokers are licensed and regulated by Michigan; fees, terms and holding periods are set by state law | Allowed, up to $600; typical APR ~369% |
Pawn shops by city in Michigan
- Flint · 12
- Detroit · 10
- Dearborn Heights · 5
- Westland · 5
- Grand Rapids · 4
- Kalamazoo · 4
- Lansing · 4
- Waterford · 4
- Bay City · 3
- Farmington · 3
- Midland · 3
- Saginaw · 3
- Utica · 3
- Warren · 3
- Ypsilanti · 3
- Battle Creek · 2
- Clinton Township · 2
- Jackson · 2
- Livonia · 2
- Muskegon · 2
- Novi · 2
- Pontiac · 2
- Southfield · 2
- Canton · 1
- Redford · 1
- Rochester · 1
- Traverse City · 1
- Wyoming · 1
Where pawn shops cluster in Michigan
Cities ranked by pawn shops per 100,000 residents, with local median household income and poverty rate. Statewide: 1.6 per 100k, median income $75,812.
| City | Pawn shops | Per 100k people | Median income | Poverty rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flint | 12 | 8.6 | $43,340 | 27.2% |
| Dearborn Heights | 5 | 8.1 | $61,817 | 20.4% |
| Westland | 5 | 5.9 | $62,538 | 13.3% |
| Waterford | 4 | 5.7 | $76,951 | 8.4% |
| Bay City | 3 | 4.7 | $57,241 | 16.3% |
| Midland | 3 | 4.5 | $79,626 | 10.7% |
| Utica | 3 | 3.5 | $91,155 | 6.8% |
| Novi | 2 | 3.3 | $124,389 | 4.6% |
| Farmington | 3 | 3.2 | $99,578 | 6.2% |
| Pontiac | 2 | 3.2 | $42,849 | 25.5% |
| Ypsilanti | 3 | 2.8 | $68,202 | 15.6% |
| Southfield | 2 | 2.5 | $69,008 | 10.9% |
| Lansing | 4 | 2.5 | $58,292 | 16.5% |
| Kalamazoo | 4 | 2.5 | $64,429 | 17.4% |
| Saginaw | 3 | 2.4 | $53,892 | 22.8% |
Pawn shop chains in Michigan
1 of the 159 pawn shops in Michigan belong to a big chain; the rest are independent.
- Cashland 1
Pawn shops in smaller towns of Michigan
Other cities and towns in Michigan with pawn shops, and the number of shops in each.
- Albion 1
- Allegan 1
- Allen Park 1
- Belleville 1
- Berkley 1
- Big Rapids 1
- Brighton 1
- Burton 1
- Coldwater 1
- Comstock Park 1
- Davison 1
- Fenton 1
- Ferndale 1
- Flat Rock 1
- Fraser 1
- Garden City 2
- Gaylord 1
- Gladwin 1
- Grand Haven 2
- Greenville 2
- Hamilton 1
- Hamtramck 4
- Harrison 1
- Hazel Park 3
- Highland 1
- Highland Park 2
- Houghton 1
- Houghton Lake 1
- Iron Mountain 1
- Ishpeming 1
- Lake City 1
- Lapeer 1
- Lincoln Park 4
- Mount Clemens 1
- Mount Pleasant 1
- New Haven 1
- Owosso 1
- Plainwell 1
- Port Huron 1
- Prescott 1
- River Rouge 1
- Rockford 1
- Roseville 1
- Sault Sainte Marie 2
- Southgate 3
- Sparta 1
- Standish 1
- Walled Lake 1
- West Branch 1
- White Cloud 1
- Williamston 1
- Wyandotte 3
Pawn shop listings: © Overture Maps Foundation (CDLA-Permissive 2.0), including Foursquare OS Places and © OpenStreetMap contributors; filtered and de-duplicated by us. Population, income and poverty: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. Call ahead to confirm hours and what a shop buys or lends on.