25,519 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.8% since 2020)
542 square miles of land · 47 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.
10 active community water systems list Manistee County in the area they serve, reporting 8,680 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MANISTEE, CITY OF groundwater · local government · MI0004030 | 6,200 served |
| FILER CHARTER TOWNSHIP groundwater · local government · MI0002290 | 940 served |
| KALEVA, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · MI0003550 | 464 served |
| CAMP ARCADIA / LCA groundwater · private · MI0001052 | 400 served |
| BEAR LAKE, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · MI0000510 | 318 served |
| PORTAGE POINT INN groundwater · private · MI0005527 | 125 served |
| KAMP VILLA RV PARK groundwater · private · MI0040580 | 100 served |
| VALLEYWOOD COVE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION groundwater · private · MI0006765 | 50 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 26 people were held in Manistee County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2020), or 171 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2015 it was about 47.
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 Manistee County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $21.7 million — $18.1 million to run schools, about $14,776 per student, plus $2.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $11 million local (mostly property tax), $10.9 million state, $1.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $38.6 million.
Spent $9.6 million — $8.3 million to run schools, about $15,416 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.2 million local (mostly property tax), $4.1 million state, $1.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.7 million.
Spent $6.2 million — $5.3 million to run schools, about $17,362 per student, plus $98,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.8 million local (mostly property tax), $957,000 state, $745,000 federal. Long-term debt: $10.5 million.
Spent $4.8 million — $4.3 million to run schools, about $14,914 per student, plus $128,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2 million local (mostly property tax), $2.6 million state, $1 million federal. Long-term debt: $1.3 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Manistee County about $9.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
35 bridges in Manistee County: 12 in good condition, 18 fair, and 5 poor (14.3%). “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.
| NINE MILE ROAD over BIG BEAR CREEK · built 1977 | 2,006 vehicles a day |
| KURICK ROAD over BETSIE RIVER · built 1974 | 760 vehicles a day |
| KERRY ROAD over BIG BEAR CREEK · built 1972 | 200 vehicles a day |
| PSUTKA ROAD over BETSIE RIVER · built 1900 | 100 vehicles a day |
| LEFFEW ROAD over BIG BEAR CREEK · built 1910 | 10 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $8.8 million of work in Manistee County in fiscal 2025, about $352 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 Manistee 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 Manistee County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Michigan: the state government and every county in Michigan.
Nearby counties: Mason County (21 mi) · Benzie County (27 mi) · Lake County (31 mi) · Wexford County (38 mi) · Oceana County (45 mi) · Grand Traverse County (50 mi).