96,625 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.3% since 2020)
464 square miles of land · 208 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.
24 active community water systems list Grand Traverse County in the area they serve, reporting 41,630 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| TRAVERSE CITY surface water · local government · MI0006640 | 14,532 served |
| GARFIELD CHARTER TOWNSHIP buys surface water · local government · MI0002565 | 12,899 served |
| EAST BAY CHARTER TOWNSHIP groundwater · local government · MI0001935 | 3,720 served |
| BLAIR TOWNSHIP groundwater · local government · MI0000743 | 2,788 served |
| PENINSULA TOWNSHIP buys surface water · local government · MI0005233 | 1,790 served |
| KINGSLEY, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · MI0003650 | 1,657 served |
| KINGS COURT MOBILE HOME PARK groundwater · private · MI0040171 | 1,200 served |
| INTERLOCHEN CENTER FOR THE ARTS groundwater · private · MI0003365 | 750 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 150 people were held in Grand Traverse County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 250 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 158.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Grand Traverse County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $159.3 million — $128.9 million to run schools, about $14,801 per student, plus $23.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $77.4 million local (mostly property tax), $68.1 million state, $11.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $81.2 million.
Spent $21.3 million — $19.9 million to run schools, about $13,331 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.6 million local (mostly property tax), $16.4 million state, $1.6 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 Grand Traverse County about $31.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
33 bridges in Grand Traverse County: 17 in good condition, 14 fair, and 2 poor (6.1%). “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.
| BEITNER ROAD over BOARDMAN RIVER · built 1980 | 19,628 vehicles a day |
| NORTH UNION STREET over BOARDMAN RIVER · built 1955 | 4,803 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $43.3 million of work in Grand Traverse County in fiscal 2025, about $455 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 Grand Traverse 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 Grand Traverse County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Michigan: the state government and every county in Michigan.
Nearby counties: Kalkaska County (23 mi) · Wexford County (27 mi) · Antrim County (27 mi) · Benzie County (34 mi) · Missaukee County (36 mi) · Leelanau County (38 mi).