Kalamazoo County, Michigan

Kalamazoo County is a in the  of. As of the, the population was 238,603. the is. It is part of the.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,503 (580 ). 1,455 km² (562 sq mi) of it is land and 47 km² (18 sq mi) of it (3.16%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * - northeast
 * - northwest
 * east
 * west
 * southeast
 * south
 * southwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 238,603 people, 93,479 households, and 57,956 families residing in the county. The was 164/km² (425/sq mi). There were 99,250 housing units at an average density of 68/km² (177/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 84.57%, 9.73% or , 0.41% , 1.83% , 0.03% , 1.27% from , and 2.15% from two or more races. 2.64% of the population were or  of any race. 93.7% spoke and 2.8%  as their first language.

There were 93,479 households out of which 30.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.70% were living together, 11.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.00% were non-families. 28.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.10% under the age of 18, 15.20% from 18 to 24, 28.20% from 25 to 44, 21.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 93.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,022, and the median income for a family was $53,953. Males had a median income of $39,611 versus $27,965 for females. The for the county was $21,739. About 6.50% of families and 12.00% of the population were below the, including 12.30% of those under age 18 and 6.30% of those age 65 or over.

Government
The county government operates the, maintains rural roads, operates the major local courts, keeps files of deeds and mortgages, maintains , administers regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of welfare and other social services. The controls the budget but has only limited authority to make laws or ordinances. In Michigan, most local government functions &mdash; police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance, etc. &mdash; are the responsibility of individual cities and townships.

Kalamazoo County elected officials

 * : Jeffrey R. Fink
 * : Michael J. Anderson (Republican)
 * /: Timothy A. Snow (Republican)
 * : Sharon A. Cubitt (Republican)
 * : William B. French (Republican); Patrick Krause (Acting)
 * County Surveyor: Robert ("Bob") E. Snell (Republican)
 * County Commission or Board of Commissioners: 17 members, elected from districts (10 Republicans, 7 Democrats)
 * Circuit Court: 7 judges (non-partisan)

(information as of February 2006)