Macomb County, Michigan

Macomb County ( ) is a county located in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Michigan, bordering Lake St. Clair, and is part of northern Metro Detroit. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 881,217, making it the third-most populous county in the state. The county seat is Mt. Clemens. Macomb County is part of the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city of Detroit is located south of the county's southern border. Macomb County contains 27 cities, townships and villages, including three of the top ten most-populous municipalities in Michigan as of the 2010 census: Warren (#3), Sterling Heights (#4) and Clinton Township (#10). Most of this population is concentrated south of Hall Road (M-59), one of the county's main thoroughfares.
History.
The Ojibwe lived in the area for centuries before European contact and were preceded by other cultures of ancient indigenous peoples.
The first European colonizers were French, and they arrived in the area during the 17th century. Other early settlers were French fur trappers, who sometimes married Ojibwe women, and Jesuit missionaries. A Moravian colony was established in the county in the late 18th century. In addition to the original French and English settlers, later immigrants included Germans, Belgians, and others from Europe. In the 19th century, the county received many European-American migrants from New York and New England, who were attracted to the area for land and booming jobs in the lumber and other resource industries.
Macomb County was formally organized on January 15, 1818, as the third county in the Michigan Territory. The county was named in honor of Detroit-born Alexander Macomb, Jr., a highly decorated veteran of the War of 1812 and hero of the Battle of Plattsburg. He was made Commanding General of the U.S. Army in 1828.
As was typical in development, the county at first encompassed a much larger area than at present. As population increased in the area, the state legislature removed territory in 1819 and 1820 to form the counties of Oakland, Lapeer, Genesee, and St. Clair.
In May 2008, Macomb County voters approved the inclusion of a County Executive in a new charter to be submitted to the voters by 2010. A charter commission was elected in November 2008 to draft a charter for submission to Governor Granholm, which was submitted and approved and placed on the November 2009 ballot. The Charter passed with a 60.4% to 39.6% margin.
Geography.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (16%) is water. The county's southeastern border with Canada is located across Lake St. Clair.
Lake St. Clair borders the county on the east.
Macomb County is mostly considered a part of Southeast Michigan. However, the far northern parts of the county, including Richmond and Armada, are often considered to be part of Michigan's Thumb region.
The county comprises mostly rural/agricultural communities to the north and a mix of suburban and urban areas to the south.
Adjacent counties.
By land
By water
Demographics.
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 840,978 people living in the county. 85.4% were White, 8.6% Black or African American, 3.0% Asian, 0.3% Native American, 0.6% of some other race and 2.1% of two or more races. 2.3% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). 14.8% were of German, 14.3% Polish, 11.1% Italian, 6.5% Irish and 5.9% American ancestry.
In 2000, 87.6% of county residents spoke only English at home; 1.7% spoke Italian, 1.4% Polish, 1.2% Spanish, 1.1% Arabic, and 1.1% Syriac.
European ethnic groups that have settled in Macomb County since the late 20th century include Bosnians, Albanians and Macedonians.
Among Asian ethnic groups, eight numbered over 1,000 people in Macomb County. They were Arabs, Asian Indians, Chaldeans, Filipinos, Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, and Hmong. Pakistanis are also represented in Macomb County's population.
Native American tribes had more than 2,478 residents in Macomb County in 2000.
In 2000, there were 309,203 households, out of which 31.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.30% were married couples living together, 10.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% were non-families. 26.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.09.
In 2000, the age distribution of the county was as follows: 24.10% under the age of 18, 8.00% from 18 to 24, 31.50% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 13.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.90 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $52,102, and the median income for a family was $62,816. Males had a median income of $48,303 versus $30,215 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,446. About 4.00% of families and 5.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.00% of those under age 18 and 6.40% of those age 65 or over.
According to the 2006 American Community Survey, the average family size was 3.15. The population of 25 and over was 571,463. 86.9% of that population had graduated from high school, and 21% of the population had a Bachelor's degree or higher. About 14.3% of that population was disabled. 12.5% of Macomb's population could speak another language at home.
Of Michigan's five largest counties, Macomb experienced the most population growth (102.5%) in the postwar years of accelerating suburban development, between 1950 and 1960. Its population has continued to grow to the present day, albeit at a slower pace since 1980.
Parks and recreation.
Macomb County is home to more than 130 parks covering managed by the state, regional, county, and local government. There are four major public parks in the County - Freedom Hill County Park, Macomb Orchard Trail, Lake St. Clair Metropark, and Stony Creek Metropark. The county also has 31 miles of shoreline and over 100 marinas.
Government.
The county government operates the jail, maintains rural roads, operates the major local courts, keeps files of deeds and mortgages, maintains vital records, administers public health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of welfare and other social services. The county board of commissioners, which for the 2019–21 term is chaired by Bob Smith, controls the budget and creates and adopts ordinances and resolutions related to County functions. In Michigan, most local government functions — police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance, etc. — are the responsibility of individual cities and townships.
The Macomb Intermediate School District serves all school districts based in the county.
Politics.
Macomb County has shown Republican tendencies in statewide elections, while tending to favor Democratic candidates at the federal and local level. Since the 2010s, Macomb County has shifted towards the Republicans, and after the 2020 elections the party gained control of the Board of Commissioners for the first time as well as four of the five countywide offices. The county gained fame in the 1980s and '90s as a bellwether of state and national politics. Macomb's large cohort of middle-class, socially conservative whites gave it one of the nation's most prominent concentrations of "Reagan Democrats". Outsider candidates with a conservative-populist bent have done well there in the past, such as Pat Buchanan in 1992 and Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. Macomb County voters were primarily responsible for the failure of the Regional Transit Authority proposal to create a public transit system in the Metropolitan Detroit region.
The more populated communities south of M-59 (Warren, Sterling Heights, Clinton Charter Township), closer to Detroit city proper are friendlier to Democrats. Warren leans Democratic, while Sterling Heights, after voting for Barack Obama in 2012, voted for Trump by about 12 points in both 2016 and 2020, but in 2018, voted for Gretchen Whitmer and Debbie Stabenow by 3 points, and Clinton Charter Township after voting for Obama in 2012, voted for Trump in 2016, but swung back to Whitmer and Stabenow in 2018 and Joe Biden in 2020. The communities north of M-59 further removed from Detroit are more strongly Republican, all backing Trump in 2016 and 2020 and Bill Schuette in 2018.
Transportation.
Rail.
Into the end of the 1950s the New York Central Railroad operated multiple trains from Mackinaw City at the north end of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, with stops at Warren station. The last Bay City to Detroit passenger train through Warren stopped on March 19, 1964.
Education.
School districts: