46,187 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.9% since 2020)
506 square miles of land · 91 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
13 active community water systems list Branch County in the area they serve, reporting 20,107 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| COLDWATER groundwater · local government · MI0001500 | 13,822 served |
| BRONSON groundwater · local government · MI0000910 | 2,421 served |
| UNION CITY groundwater · local government · MI0006720 | 1,630 served |
| QUINCY groundwater · local government · MI0005580 | 1,544 served |
| LAKESIDE ESTATES SUBDIVISION groundwater · private · MI0003742 | 125 served |
| ARBOR VIEW groundwater · private · MI0004778 | 100 served |
| AVRA ESTATES groundwater · private · MI0040074 | 87 served |
| CAMBRIDGE VILLAGE groundwater · private · MI0040068 | 80 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 99 people were held in Branch County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2020), or 354 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2015 it was about 135.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
4 school districts have their office in Branch County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $43.5 million — $35.7 million to run schools, about $12,967 per student, plus $5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12.7 million local (mostly property tax), $24.5 million state, $5.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $34.5 million.
Spent $17.4 million — $14.4 million to run schools, about $12,507 per student, plus $2.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.3 million local (mostly property tax), $11.5 million state, $3.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.2 million.
Spent $15.1 million — $13 million to run schools, about $13,132 per student, plus $1.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.8 million local (mostly property tax), $10.3 million state, $2.4 million federal.
Spent $15.3 million — $14.1 million to run schools, about $15,328 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3 million local (mostly property tax), $10.6 million state, $1.7 million federal.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Branch County about $13.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
118 bridges in Branch County: 22 in good condition, 70 fair, and 26 poor (22.0%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| NORTH MARSHALL RD over COLD CREEK · built 1930 | 5,588 vehicles a day |
| UNION CITY ROAD over COLD CREEK · built 1935 | 2,681 vehicles a day |
| NORTH MARSHALL RD over WARREN BROOK DRAIN 20/31 · built 1930 | 1,950 vehicles a day |
| FREMONT ROAD over COUNTY DRAIN #22 · built 1964 | 1,950 vehicles a day |
| RIVER ROAD over COLDWATER RIVER · built 1957 | 851 vehicles a day |
| ORLAND ROAD over HOG CREEK DRAIN #40 · built 1928 | 830 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $6.5 million of work in Branch County in fiscal 2025, about $145 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Michigan are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Branch County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Branch County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Michigan: the state government and every county in Michigan.
Nearby counties: Steuben County, IN (19 mi) · Hillsdale County (22 mi) · Calhoun County (23 mi) · St. Joseph County (23 mi) · LaGrange County, IN (27 mi) · Kalamazoo County (33 mi).