Barry County, Michigan

Barry County is a in the  of. As of the, the population was 56,755. The is.

Barry County was formed by an act of the legislature of the on,. The name comes from, under  , making it one of Michigan's "".

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,494 (577 ). 1,440 km² (556 sq mi) of it is land and 54 km² (21 sq mi) of it (3.60%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * (northeast)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (southwest)
 * (west)
 * (northwest)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 56,755 people, 21,035 households, and 15,986 families residing in the county. The was 39/km² (102/sq mi). There were 23,876 housing units at an average density of 17/km² (43/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.39%, 0.24% or , 0.46% , 0.27% , 0.01% , 0.50% from , and 1.12% from two or more races. 1.46% of the population were or  of any race. 98.2% spoke as their first language.

There were 21,035 households out of which 35.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.10% were living together, 7.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.00% were non-families. 19.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the county the population was spread out with 27.20% under the age of 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 29.00% from 25 to 44, 24.60% from 45 to 64, and 11.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 99.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $46,820, and the median income for a family was $51,794. Males had a median income of $38,991 versus $26,387 for females. The for the county was $20,636. About 3.90% of families and 5.50% of the population were below the, including 5.90% of those under age 18 and 5.90% 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.

Barry County elected officials

 * : Thomas E. Evans
 * : Dar Leaf
 * : Debbie Smith
 * : Susan L. Vandecar
 * : Darla K. Burghdoff
 * : Thomas Doyle
 * : Brian Reynolds

(information as of September 2005)