51,550 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.0% since 2020)
490 square miles of land · 105 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.
19 active community water systems list Cass County in the area they serve, reporting 13,665 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| DOWAGIAC groundwater · local government · MI0001860 | 6,350 served |
| CASSOPOLIS groundwater · local government · MI0001250 | 1,815 served |
| CASS COUNTY WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · MI0005234 | 1,350 served |
| EDWARDSBURG groundwater · local government · MI0002077 | 1,260 served |
| MARCELLUS groundwater · local government · MI0004070 | 1,198 served |
| BAIR LAKE BIBLE CAMP groundwater · private · MI0000347 | 372 served |
| COLONIAL ACRES groundwater · private · MI0040094 | 265 served |
| EAGLE LAKE ESTATES MHP groundwater · private · MI0040103 | 230 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 125 people were held in Cass County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 389 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 100.
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 Cass County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $31.8 million — $30.1 million to run schools, about $11,407 per student, plus $888,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.6 million local (mostly property tax), $27.9 million state, $1.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.9 million.
Spent $32.9 million — $29.2 million to run schools, about $15,351 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.9 million local (mostly property tax), $17.3 million state, $6 million federal. Long-term debt: $44.2 million.
Spent $13.8 million — $13 million to run schools, about $14,972 per student, plus $311,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.6 million local (mostly property tax), $4.6 million state, $2 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.1 million.
Spent $11 million — $10.3 million to run schools, about $16,406 per student, plus $266,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.4 million local (mostly property tax), $7.1 million state, $1.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $10.3 million.
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 Cass County about $13.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
53 bridges in Cass County: 13 in good condition, 32 fair, and 8 poor (15.1%). “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.
| POKAGON RD over POKAGON CREEK · built 1960 | 2,590 vehicles a day |
| MIDDLE CROSSING RD over DOWAGIAC RIVER · built 1961 | 1,688 vehicles a day |
| INDIAN LAKE ROAD over DOWAGIAC RIVER · built 1959 | 991 vehicles a day |
| CASSOPOLIS RD over CHRISTIANA CREEK · built 1960 | 159 vehicles a day |
| NORTH SHORE DRIVE over CHRISTIANA CREEK · built 1930 | 146 vehicles a day |
| FROST STREET over DOWAGIAC RIVER · built 1930 | 56 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $18.1 million of work in Cass County in fiscal 2025, about $350 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 Cass 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 Cass County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Michigan: the state government and every county in Michigan.
Nearby counties: Elkhart County, IN (23 mi) · St. Joseph County (25 mi) · St. Joseph County, IN (25 mi) · Van Buren County (30 mi) · Kalamazoo County (33 mi) · LaGrange County, IN (35 mi).