Demographics

Shiawassee County Economic Development Partnership actively participates in the seven-county I-69 Thumb region group, the business recruitment marketing activities of the Detroit Regional Chamber and the activities of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. For those reasons, we have figures for Shiawassee County as well as comparable figures by each region and for the State of Michigan as a reference.

Population
Population
Shiawassee County proper has just over 70,000 in population, the seven-county I-69 Thumb region brings the population to about 880,000.
Shiawassee County I-69 Thumb Region1 Detroit MSA2 Michigan
70,402 879,056 4,304,617 9,897,264
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2012 1Shiawassee County along with Lapeer, St. Clair, Genesee, Sanilac, Tuscola and Huron Counties, Michigan. 2Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, Michigan MSA
Cost of Living
Cost of Living
Shiawassee County and the I-69 International Trade Corridor region have a median income that is 15% lower than the U.S. average.
Shiawassee County I-69 International Trade Corridor1 Detroit MSA2 Michigan USA
85 85 87 88 100
Source: Sperling’s Best Places 2013 1Shiawassee County along with Lapeer, St. Clair, Genesee, Sanilac, Tuscola and Huron Counties, Michigan. 2Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, Michigan MSA Index where 100 = U.S. Average.
Median Home Cost
Median Home Cost
Shiawassee County has a median home cost that is about 38% lower than the U.S. average. At the same time, a wide range of housing is available, from rental (about 78% of housing units in Shiawassee County are owner-occupied) to executive housing.
Shiawassee County I-69 International Trade Corridor1 Detroit MSA2 Michigan USA
$114,500 $111,738 $135,700 $128,600 $186,200
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2012 1Shiawassee County along with Lapeer, St. Clair, Genesee, Sanilac, Tuscola and Huron Counties, Michigan. 2Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, Michigan MSA
Median Household Income
Median Household Income
Shiawassee County has a median income that is about 9% lower than the Detroit MSA’s and about 10% lower than the U.S. average.
Shiawassee County I-69 Thumb Region1 Detroit MSA2 Michigan USA
$47,106 $44,830 $51,903 $48,471 $52,762
Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2012 1Shiawassee County along with Lapeer, St. Clair, Genesee, Sanilac, Tuscola and Huron Counties, Michigan. 2Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, Michigan MSA
Median Age
Median Age
The median age for Shiawassee County is 40.4 years.
Year Age
2000 36.6
2010 39.4
2015 40.4
Source: Nielsen-Claritas, Inc.
Safety Index
Safety Index
Shiawassee County and the I-69 International Trade Corridor have very low violent crime rate and property crime rate relative to the rest of Michigan.
  Shiawassee County I-69 International Trade Corridor1 Detroit MSA2 Michigan
Violent Crime 2 3 5 7
Property Crime 3 4 4 4
Source: Sperling’s Best Places 2013: crime ratings are rated on a scale of “1” to “10” where “1” is low crime and “10” is high crime. The U.S. average is 4. 1Shiawassee County along with Lapeer, St. Clair, Genesee, Sanilac, Tuscola and Huron Counties, Michigan. 2Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, Michigan MSA