Leelanau County, Michigan

Leelanau County
	Leelanau County, Michigan
	; Location in the state of Michigan
	; Michigan's location in the U.S.
Founded	1840
Seat	Leland
Area; - Total; - Land; - Water	; 2,532 sq mi (6,558 km²); ; 2,184 sq mi (5,657 km²), 86.24%
Population; - (2020); - Density	; 22,301 ; 60/sq mi (23/km²)
Website	www.leelanaucounty.com

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Leelanau County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the Traverse City Micropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,301. The county seat currently is the unincorporated community of Leland ⁶. However, on August 3, 2004, county voters approved a proposal to move the county seat to Suttons Bay Township, closer to the county's geographic center. A new governmental facility will be built on 45 acres (180,000 m²) of county-owned land one mile east of the unincorporated village of Lake Leelanau, where a new county law enforcement center already is under construction.

A substantial portion of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore lies within the county's borders, including North Manitou and South Manitou Islands.

Geography[]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 6,559 km² (2,532 sq mi). 903 km² (348 sq mi) of it is land and 5,656 km² (2,184 sq mi) of it (86.24%) is water. The county has the second-highest proportion of water area of any county in the United States, behind only Keweenaw County. Lake Leelanau is the county's largest body of inland water, formed from the Leland River dam near Leland. Glen Lake, located within the boundaries of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, is considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.

Major highways[]

Adjacent counties[]

Grand Traverse County (southeast)
Benzie County (southwest)

Demographics[]

As of the census ² of 2000, there were 21,119 people, 8,436 households, and 6,217 families residing in the county. The population density was 23/km² (61/sq mi). There were 13,297 housing units at an average density of 15/km² (38/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 93.52% White, 0.25% Black or African American, 3.66% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.34% from other races, and 0.97% from two or more races. 3.29% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 95.1% spoke English and 2.9% Spanish as their first language.

There were 8,436 households out of which 29.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.60% were married couples living together, 7.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.30% were non-families. 22.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.40% under the age of 18, 5.70% from 18 to 24, 24.20% from 25 to 44, 28.30% from 45 to 64, and 17.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 99.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.10 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $47,062, and the median income for a family was $53,228. Males had a median income of $35,719 versus $25,778 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,686. About 3.30% of families and 5.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.40% of those under age 18 and 4.50% of those age 65 or over.

Government[]

Leelanau County has been reliably Republican since its organization, but appears to be becoming more Democratic. Since 1884, the Republican Party nominee has carried the county vote in 86% (30 of 35) of the national elections through 2020. In 2020, the county voted for Joe Biden, after it voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

Leelanau County is one of only twelve counties to have voted for Obama in 2008, Romney in 2012, Trump in 2016, and Biden in 2020.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

United States presidential election results for Leelanau County, Michigan^[1]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	7,916	46.84%	8,795	52.04%	189	1.12%
2016	7,239	48.61%	6,774	45.49%	879	5.90%
2012	7,483	52.63%	6,576	46.25%	160	1.13%
2008	6,938	47.97%	7,355	50.85%	171	1.18%
2004	7,733	55.57%	6,048	43.46%	136	0.98%
2000	6,840	56.96%	4,635	38.60%	534	4.45%
1996	5,155	50.36%	4,019	39.26%	1,063	10.38%
1992	3,993	39.20%	3,445	33.82%	2,749	26.99%
1988	5,215	60.51%	3,331	38.65%	73	0.85%
1984	5,356	67.62%	2,498	31.54%	67	0.85%
1980	4,585	57.78%	2,348	29.59%	1,002	12.63%
1976	4,240	62.33%	2,437	35.82%	126	1.85%
1972	3,809	65.82%	1,855	32.05%	123	2.13%
1968	2,798	60.06%	1,562	33.53%	299	6.42%
1964	2,074	46.60%	2,369	53.22%	8	0.18%
1960	2,730	60.05%	1,810	39.82%	6	0.13%
1956	2,987	69.82%	1,287	30.08%	4	0.09%
1952	2,926	74.38%	999	25.39%	9	0.23%
1948	1,928	69.01%	835	29.89%	31	1.11%
1944	2,063	68.24%	944	31.23%	16	0.53%
1940	2,405	66.09%	1,223	33.61%	11	0.30%
1936	1,692	49.69%	1,542	45.29%	171	5.02%
1932	1,527	46.09%	1,746	52.70%	40	1.21%
1928	1,521	62.41%	903	37.05%	13	0.53%
1924	1,792	75.36%	301	12.66%	285	11.98%
1920	2,156	82.26%	406	15.49%	59	2.25%
1916	984	53.89%	763	41.79%	79	4.33%
1912	621	35.42%	344	19.62%	788	44.95%
1908	1,258	66.35%	566	29.85%	72	3.80%
1904	1,464	75.27%	416	21.39%	65	3.34%
1900	1,468	68.41%	634	29.54%	44	2.05%
1896	1,402	64.25%	690	31.62%	90	4.12%
1892	769	53.63%	492	34.31%	173	12.06%
1888	899	55.49%	673	41.54%	48	2.96%
1884	811	57.80%	571	40.70%	21	1.50%

Leelanau County operates the County jail, maintains rural roads, operates the major local courts, records deeds, mortgages, and vital records, administers public health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of social services. The county board of commissioners controls the budget and has limited authority to make laws or ordinances. 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.

Leelenau County recently completed construction of a new jail.

Elected officials[]

Prosecuting Attorney – Joseph T. Hubbell
Probate Judge – Larry Nelson
Sheriff – Michael Borkovich
County Clerk – Michelle L. Crocker
County Treasurer – John A. Gallagher
Register of Deeds – Dorothy M. Miller
Drain Commissioner – Steven R. Christensen
Commissioner Dist. 1 – Tony Ansorge
Commissioner Dist. 2 – Debra L. Rushton
Commissioner Dist. 3 – William J. Bunek
Commissioner Dist. 4 – Ty Wessell
Commissioner Dist. 5 – Patricia Soutas-Little
Commissioner Dist. 6 – Casey Noonan
Commissioner Dist. 7 – Melinda Loutner^[2]

Cities, villages, and townships[]

Coordinates: 45°08′N 86°02′W / 45.13, -86.03

This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Leelanau County, Michigan. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.

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[2] US Election Atlas

[3] Leelanau County - Directory

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[2]