Branch County, Michigan

• White (non-Hispanic) 39,155 86.4%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3,071 6.8%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 757 1.7%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 202 0.4%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 1,849 4.1%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 65 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 201 0.4%

• Under 18 10,645 23.5%
• 18–24 3,478 7.7%
• 25–44 10,811 23.9%
• 45–64 11,579 25.6%
• 65 and over 8,787 19.4%

Median household income

$64,636

90% interval $60,372–$68,900

−$7,700 vs MI · 41st of 83

Below poverty line

13.2%

90% interval 10.7%–15.7%

−0.2 pp vs MI · 40th of 83

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.1%

−0.85 pp vs. state

County GDP

$1.9B

0.28% of state

Avg. annual pay

$56,859

Establishments

890

• Trade, transportation & utilities 3,973 25.8%
• Manufacturing 3,763 24.4%
• Education & health services 2,468 16.0%
• Leisure & hospitality 1,758 11.4%
• Professional & business services 589 3.8%
• Financial activities 556 3.6%
• Public administration 537 3.5%
• Construction 517 3.4%
• Other services 474 3.1%
• Natural resources & mining 216 1.4%
• Information 86 0.6%
• Unclassified 40 0.3%

The sectors listed cover 97.3% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

77.7%

+4.5 pp vs MI · 59th of 83

Median gross rent

$959

−$170 vs MI · 28th of 83

Owner-occupied

13,131

Renter-occupied

3,775

• Concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 66% of the county workforce. Most panelists likely share employer relationships within these sectors, surface those connections early in voir dire before any institutional-defendant or sector-specific framing.

• Wide wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Other services, $90,805/yr) pays 4.2× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $21,582/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 17 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 14,848 70.4%
• Democratic 5,911 28.0%
• Other / third-party 329 1.6%

• German or other West Germanic 1,711 4.0%
• Spanish 1,685 4.0%
• Arabic 1,197 2.8%
• Tagalog 70 0.2%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 50 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 27 0.1%
• Vietnamese 11 0.0%
• Chinese 1 0.0%

Households

16,906

Family households

10,648

63.0% of households

Married couples w/ children

2,899

27.2% of families

Single-mother families

1,026

9.6% of families

Veterans

2,294

6.6% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 7,569 16.9%
• Catholic 4,756 10.6%
• Mainline Protestant 1,648 3.7%
• Black Protestant 700 1.6%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 559 1.2%

Health insured

90.2%

±1.6 pp

Uninsured

9.8%

±1.6 pp

5th of 83

With a disability

15.9%

±1.1 pp

53rd of 83

Bachelor's or higher

17.3%

±1 pp

−15.1 pp vs MI · 69th of 83

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

8.3%

90% interval 7.4%–9.2% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

15th Judicial Circuit Court

Judges

2 (Circuit Court judges per circuit (general civil + felony criminal jurisdiction); District Court judges (limited jurisdiction) and Probate Court judges separate. Vintage 2026 courts.michigan.gov / Wikipedia 'Michigan Circuit Courts' table; cross-checked against MCL § 600.508.)

Court seats

Coldwater

Traffic fatalities

6

17.31 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

6