41,947 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.8% since 2020)
555 square miles of land · 76 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 Mecosta County in the area they serve, reporting 11,574 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BIG RAPIDS groundwater · local government · MI0000710 | 10,403 served |
| SUNSET SHORES groundwater · private · MI0040653 | 200 served |
| COUNTRY MANOR groundwater · private · MI0040656 | 190 served |
| CIRCLE DRIVE MOBILE HOME PARK groundwater · private · MI0040339 | 125 served |
| HUNTERS CREEK ESTATES groundwater · private · MI0040342 | 125 served |
| REMUS APARTMENT COMPANY groundwater · private · MI0005655 | 100 served |
| HOLIDAY TERRACE groundwater · private · MI0040344 | 90 served |
| ROYAL VIEW RETIREMENT VILLAGE groundwater · private · MI0005841 | 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 75 people were held in Mecosta County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2020), or 296 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2015 it was about 86.
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.
3 school districts have their office in Mecosta County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $34 million — $29.8 million to run schools, about $12,594 per student, plus $2.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.2 million local (mostly property tax), $23.3 million state, $3.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $27.3 million.
Spent $31.3 million — $27.5 million to run schools, about $15,181 per student, plus $2.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12.6 million local (mostly property tax), $15.7 million state, $1.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $1.4 million.
Spent $20.2 million — $16.2 million to run schools, about $15,255 per student, plus $3.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.3 million local (mostly property tax), $11 million state, $5.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.9 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 Mecosta County about $23.7 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.
80 bridges in Mecosta County: 30 in good condition, 47 fair, and 3 poor (3.8%). “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.
| 22 MILE ROAD over PARIS CREEK · built 1970 | 1,004 vehicles a day |
| 130TH AVE over LITTLE MUSKEGON RIVER · built 1958 | 354 vehicles a day |
| 3 MILE ROAD over QUIGLEY CREEK · built 1970 | 100 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $9.1 million of work in Mecosta County in fiscal 2025, about $228 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 Mecosta 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 Mecosta County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Michigan: the state government and every county in Michigan.
Nearby counties: Newaygo County (23 mi) · Montcalm County (24 mi) · Isabella County (25 mi) · Osceola County (25 mi) · Lake County (34 mi) · Clare County (35 mi).