Isabella County, Michigan

Isabella County is a in the  of. As of the, the population was 63,351. Its is.

The area was known as Ojibiway Besse, meaning "the place of the ". It was set off as a county in 1831, and county government organized in 1859. It was named after, based on a suggestion by.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,496 (578 ). 1,487 km² (574 sq mi) of it is land and 9 km² (3 sq mi) of it (0.60%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 10.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 127.svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:M-20.svg|20px]]

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (southwest)
 * (west)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 63,351 people, 22,425 households, and 13,006 families residing in the county. The was 43/km² (110/sq mi). There were 24,528 housing units at an average density of 16/km² (43/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 91.51%, 1.93% or , 2.75% , 1.40% , 0.05% , 0.68% from , and 1.68% from two or more races. 2.24% of the population were or  of any race. 95.9% spoke and 1.6%  as their first language.

There were 22,425 households out of which 28.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.40% were living together, 8.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.00% were non-families. 23.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the county the population was spread out with 20.30% under the age of 18, 29.40% from 18 to 24, 23.80% from 25 to 44, 17.40% from 45 to 64, and 9.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females there were 91.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $34,262, and the median income for a family was $45,953. Males had a median income of $32,270 versus $24,180 for females. The for the county was $16,242. About 7.40% of families and 20.40% of the population were below the, including 11.30% of those under age 18 and 7.80% 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.

Isabella County elected officials

 * : Larry Burdick
 * : Leo Mioduszewski
 * : Joyce A. Swan
 * : Steven W. Pickens
 * : Sharon Brown
 * : Gary McBride

(information as of September 2005)

Cities

 * (partially)