Jury Pool Profile

Isabella County, Michigan

Republican +7.5 (2024)

County seat: Mt. Pleasant
Judicial district: 21st Judicial Circuit Court
Population (July 2025 estimate): 64,691; Census PEP. The five-year ACS survey average is 64,565.

At a glance

Isabella County is a 64,691-person venue. The county population is 85% White (Census race-alone categories). Median household income is $56,734, $15,602 below the MI state median of $72,336; 31.3% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher. 6.5% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, most commonly German or other West Germanic and Spanish. The largest published sector is Education & health services, at 17.0% of covered employment, average pay $49,567/year. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 5.26%, above the 4.98% state average. The county carried the Republican presidential candidate in 2016, 2020, and 2024, taking 49% to 53% of the vote across the three.

Population: 64,565
Median household income: $55,237
Unemployment: 5.3%

Who sits on a jury?

Predominantly White

≥70% White (race-alone) and <20% Black. This county: 85% / 3%.

Isabella County has a population of 64,565, with a median age of 30.1. By Census race-alone categories, White residents make up 84.5%; Black residents 2.5%. Independently, 5.1% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The median household earns $56,734; 31.3% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher; 19.0% live below the federal poverty line.

Race & ethnicity

White (non-Hispanic) 53,579 83.0%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3,281 5.1%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 1,574 2.4%
Asian (non-Hispanic) 1,061 1.6%
Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 3,174 4.9%
American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 1,633 2.5%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 14 0.0%
Some other race (non-Hispanic) 249 0.4%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Age distribution

Median age 30.1

Under 18 11,471 17.8%
18–24 16,605 25.7%
25–44 14,525 22.5%
45–64 12,942 20.0%
65 and over 9,022 14.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Income & poverty

Median household income: $56,734; 90% interval $53,310–$60,158; −$15,602 vs MI · 68th of 83
Below poverty line: 19.0%; 90% interval 16.6%–21.4%; +5.6 pp vs MI · 6th of 83

U.S. Census SAIPE 2024

Economic context

Healthcare & education anchored

Largest sector in BLS QCEW, with cells BLS withholds estimated from Census County Business Patterns (private jobs) and the statewide public-sector mix: Education & health services, about 28% of covered jobs.

Education & health services is the largest published sector at 17.0% of covered employment, followed by Trade, transportation & utilities at 15.1%. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 5.26%, above the Michigan state average.

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 5.3%; +0.28 pp vs. state
County GDP: $3.3B; 0.46% of state
Avg. annual pay: $52,282
Establishments: 1,452

U.S. BLS 2026M07 · U.S. BEA 2024 · BLS QCEW 2025

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Education & health services 4,578 17.0%
Trade, transportation & utilities 4,060 15.1%
Leisure & hospitality 2,757 10.3%
Manufacturing 2,465 9.2%
Professional & business services 1,712 6.4%
Construction 1,694 6.3%
Financial activities 976 3.6%
Public administration 902 3.4%
Natural resources & mining 569 2.1%

The sectors listed cover 73.4% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

BLS QCEW 2025

Housing

Home ownership: 61.8%; −11.4 pp vs MI · 81st of 83
Median gross rent: $913; −$216 vs MI · 35th of 83
Owner-occupied: 15,406
Renter-occupied: 9,508

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Local economy in 3 reads

Diversified

Top three sectors employ 42% of the workforce, a relatively diversified local economy. Expect mixed employer backgrounds on the panel rather than concentration in any one institution or industry.
Moderate wage spread

Highest-paid sector (Construction, $78,696/yr) pays 3.5× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $22,175/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.
Institutional employer scale

Average establishment employs 18 workers, typical of an institutional-employer economy where large hospitals, plants, schools, and government agencies dominate. Expect many panelists to share an employer rather than work for themselves.

BLS QCEW 2025

Largest employers

Principal employers by headcount

2 of the 4 employers listed here are in education & health services, accounting for 2,741 employees on this list. So education & health services is the largest sector by employment here, but half of the county's biggest named employers sit outside it. A panelist who works somewhere you recognize is probably not working where most of this county works; ask where they work before assuming either pattern fits them.

#	Employer	Sector	Employees
1	Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe	Tribal government and casino resort	3,200
2	Central Michigan University	Higher education	2,181
3	Bandit Industries	Manufacturing (wood chippers and forestry equipment)	738
4	Mt. Pleasant Public Schools	K-12 public education	560

Showing 4 of 10 employers on the published list(9,280 employees total).

Source: Isabella County, Michigan, audited financial report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, Table 15 'Ten Largest Principal Employers, Current Year and Nine Years Ago', sourced to the Middle Michigan Development Corporation. The table does not say whether counts are full-time or all staff. (2025)

Political composition

Consistently Republican

Republican candidate carried this county in 2016, 2020, and 2024 (avg winning share: 51%). 'Strongly' threshold: ≥60% avg.

Isabella County was carried by the Republican candidate in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 cycles, with 53.0% in 2024, 50.4% in 2020, 48.7% in 2016.

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 30,817 votes cast

Republican
Democratic

Republican 16,320 53.0%
Democratic 14,011 45.5%
Other / third-party 486 1.6%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Family-majority, English-speaking

Family households are 53% of all households (thresholds: ≥70% = 'family-dominant'; 50–70% = 'family-majority'; <50% = 'singles/nonfamily-majority'). 6.5% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home (threshold for 'linguistically diverse' is ≥10%).

6.5% of residents 5 years and older speak a language other than English at home. The most common are German or other West Germanic, Spanish, Chinese. Veterans account for 5.4% of the adult civilian population (2,881 individuals).

Languages spoken at home

93.5% speak only English at home

German or other West Germanic 1,136 1.8%
Spanish 1,132 1.8%
Chinese 331 0.5%
Tagalog 110 0.2%
Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 108 0.2%
Korean 96 0.2%
Arabic 80 0.1%
French, Haitian, or Cajun 69 0.1%
Vietnamese 6 0.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Household composition

Households: 24,914
Family households: 13,281; 53.3% of households
Married couples w/ children: 3,385; 25.5% of families
Single-mother families: 1,071; 8.1% of families
Veterans: 2,881; 5.4% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Religious composition

32.5% overall adherence rate

Catholic 11,790 18.3%
Evangelical Protestant 6,288 9.8%
Mainline Protestant 1,658 2.6%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 1,209 1.9%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 92.2%; ±1 pp
Uninsured: 7.8%; ±1 pp; 11th of 83
With a disability: 14.9%; ±1 pp; 59th of 83
Bachelor's or higher: 31.3%; ±1.6 pp; −1.1 pp vs MI · 19th of 83
Uninsured, under 65 (2024): 7.9%; 90% interval 6.9%–8.9% · Census SAHIE

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

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Court infrastructure

Trial court: 21st 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: Mt. Pleasant

Court reference

Traffic safety context

Isabella totals, 2024 — the per-100k rate is based on 14 recorded deaths, too few to be statistically reliable

Traffic fatalities: 14; 26.37 per 100k adults (18+)
Fatal crashes: 13

NHTSA FARS 2024