Saginaw County Demographics

Saginaw County has a population of more than 200,000 people and the overall Great Lakes Bay Region has nearly 400,000 residents. Saginaw County’s labor force is more than 90,000 and the region’s is nearly 190,000.
 
Households and Families
In 2005-2009 there were 78,000 households in Saginaw County. The average household size was 2.5 people. Families made up 67 percent of the households in Saginaw County.

Nativity and Language
Two percent of the people living in Saginaw County in 2005-2009 were foreign born. Ninety-eight percent was native, including 84 percent who were born in Michigan. Among people at least five years old living in Saginaw County in 2005-2009, 5 percent spoke a language other than English at home. Of those speaking a language other than English at home, 52 percent spoke Spanish and 48 percent spoke some other language; 27 percent reported that they did not speak English "very well."

Education
In 2005-2009, 86 percent of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 18 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher. Fourteen percent were dropouts; they were not enrolled in school and had not graduated from high school. The total school enrollment in Saginaw County was 55,000 in 2005-2009. Nursery school and kindergarten enrollment was 5,500 and elementary or high school enrollment was 35,000 children. College or graduate school enrollment was 14,000.

Occupations
Among the most common occupations were: Management, professional, and related occupations, 30 percent; Sales and office occupations, 28 percent; Service occupations, 20 percent; Production, transportation, and material moving occupations, 14 percent; and Construction, extraction, maintenance, and repair occupations, 8 percent. Eighty-three percent of the people employed were Private wage and salary workers; 12 percent was Federal, state, or local government workers; and 5 percent was Self-employed in own not incorporated business workers.

Income
The median income of households in Saginaw County was $42,244. Seventy-one percent of the households received earnings and 27 percent received retirement income other than Social Security. Thirty-two percent of the households received Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $15,806. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.

Housing
In 2005-2009, Saginaw County had 78,000 occupied housing units - 59,000 (75 percent) owner occupied and 19,000 (25 percent) renter occupied. Six percent of the households did not have telephone service and 8 percent of the households did not have access to a car, truck, or van for private use. Multi Vehicle households were not rare. Thirty-nine percent had two vehicles and another 19 percent had three or more.

Source: American Community Survey, 2005-2009