Berrien County, Michigan

Berrien County is a located in the extreme southwest of the  of. It is included in the -, Michigan. As of the, the population was 162,453. The is.

As one of the, Berrien county was named for of ,  under   (1829-1831).

Berrien county's boundaries were set off by an act of the legislature of the on,  with its present limits, but it was initially attached as  to  for administrative purposes. In Berrien County was detached from Cass County.

The county was initially divided into three townships:, consisting of present-day townships of Berrien, , and plus a two-mile strip north of that territory; , consisting of everything north of Berrien Township; and , consisting of everything south of Berrien Township.

Geography
The wedge-shaped county has to the west and  to the south. is to the north and northeast. is to the east.

According to the, the county has a total area of 4,096 (1,581 ). 1,479 km² (571 sq mi) of it is land and 2,617 km² (1,010 sq mi) of it (63.89%) is water.

The is a major geographical feature, flowing mostly north and west through the county from  to its mouth on Lake Michigan at. The southwest of the county is drained by the and its tributaries. is in the north of the county, along with the, which flows into the St. Joseph River just before it enters Lake Michigan. A tiny portion along the Indiana state line is drained by small tributaries of the, which ultimately flows into the. This is one of the few areas of Michigan drained by the Mississippi River.

,, and are all located within the county.

Adjacent counties

 * (northeast)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (southwest)

Transportation

 * runs north along the western edge of the county, staying near Lake Michigan, until bending inland to skirt the / urban area. It then turns east as it continues toward .  There is a Business Loop 94 which passes through downtown Benton Harbor and St. Joseph.
 * branches off of I-94 just east of Benton Harbor and continues north to and then east to.
 * , which connects the area with metropolitan area, enters the southeast of the county as the, near , and continues north and west.  A new segment of the freeway was completed in August 2003 running from  north to Napier Avenue east of Benton Harbor.  US 31 follows Napier Avenue west to I-94 before branching off with I-196. A final segment is planned to continue the freeway from Napier Avenue north to the junction with I-94 and Business I-94 with a full cloverleaf interchange. The former route of US 31 between Berrien Springs and St. Joseph was redesignated as M-139.
 * is an east-west route crossing through the southern portion of the county from south of Niles through to  and  before leaving the state and continuing to.
 * has its southern terminus at the state line as a continuation of, runs north through Niles, then turns northeast and exits the county as it continues toward.
 * has its southern terminus in Niles, runs north along the eastern portion of the county, and exits the county as it continues north toward.
 * has its western terminus at a junction with M-140 and runs only a short distance east before it exits the county as it continues toward.
 * has its southern terminus at a junction with M-139 (formerly US 31) in . It runs northwest into downtown St. Joseph, then runs northeast along Lake Michigan before its northern terminus at a junction with US 31 and I-196 just south of the county boundary.
 * has its southern terminus at a junction with US 31 near Berrien Springs. It runs northwest until a junction with M-63 in where it turns north and passes to the east of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor before reaching it northern terminus at a junction with Business Loop I-94.
 * is only 1.1 miles long and links I-94 at exit 1 near New Buffalo to north of.
 * is Berrien's only signed county highway. It's southern terminus is in  at M-63 and I-196.  It follows the Lake Michigan shoreline and exits the county, continuing toward.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 162,453 people, 63,569 households, and 43,354 families residing in the county. The was 110/km² (284/sq mi). There were 73,445 housing units at an average density of 50/km² (129/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 79.69%, 15.93% or , 0.43% , 1.14% , 0.04% , 1.14% from , and 1.64% from two or more races. 3.01% of the population were or  of any race. 93.5% spoke, 3.0% and 1.0%  as their first language.

There were 63,569 households out of which 31.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.20% were living together, 13.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% were non-families. 27.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.01.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.00% under the age of 18, 8.30% from 18 to 24, 27.50% from 25 to 44, 23.70% from 45 to 64, and 14.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 94.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $38,567, and the median income for a family was $46,548. Males had a median income of $36,582 versus $23,800 for females. The for the county was $19,952. About 9.30% of families and 12.70% of the population were below the, including 17.80% of those under age 18 and 9.00% 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.

Berrien County elected officials

 * : James A. Cherry
 * : L. Paul Bailey
 * : M. Louise Stine
 * : Bret E. Witkowski
 * : Lori D. Jarvis
 * : Roger Zilke
 * : John G. Kamer

(information as of September 2005)