Alpena County, Michigan

Alpena County is a in the  of. As of the, the population was 31,314. The is.

Geography
Alpena County is in the northeast of the mitten-shaped. and are to the east,  to the south,  to the southwest,  to the west, and  to the north. Most of the county is drained by the and its tributaries. The occupies large tracts of land in the county. The is located offshore adjacent to the county.

According to the, the county has a total area of 1695 sqmi. 574 sqmi of it is land and 1121 sqmi of it (66.13%) is water.

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 23.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:M-32.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:M-65.svg|20px]]

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (south)
 * (west)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 31,314 people, 12,818 households, and 8,690 families residing in the county. The was. There were 15,289 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 98.21%, 0.25% or , 0.39% , 0.33% , 0.12% from , and 0.70% from two or more races. 0.58% of the population were or  of any race. 96.7% spoke and 1.1%  as their first language.

There were 12,818 households out of which 29.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.30% were living together, 9.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.20% were non-families. 27.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.70% under the age of 18, 7.80% from 18 to 24, 26.50% from 25 to 44, 24.90% from 45 to 64, and 17.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $34,177, and the median income for a family was $42,366. Males had a median income of $34,571 versus $21,962 for females. The for the county was $17,566. About 7.70% of families and 10.50% of the population were below the, including 13.10% of those under age 18 and 6.80% 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.

Alpena County elected officials

 * : Dennis P. Grenkowicz
 * : Steven Kieliszewski
 * : Bonnie Friedrichs
 * : Joelyn McCallum
 * : Kathy J. Matash
 * : Donald Bartosh

(information as of September 2005)

Villages
none