26,083 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.8% since 2020)
515 square miles of land · 51 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.
11 active community water systems list Otsego County in the area they serve, reporting 4,396 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| GAYLORD, CITY OF groundwater · local government · MI0002600 | 3,629 served |
| NOTTINGHAM FOREST MHP groundwater · private · MI0040414 | 185 served |
| GLEN MEADOWS CONDOMINIUMS groundwater · private · MI0002656 | 142 served |
| TREETOPS RESORT (TREETOPS NORTH) groundwater · private · MI0006647 | 90 served |
| BEAVER CREEK RESORT groundwater · private · MI0000514 | 76 served |
| LAKEVIEW APARTMENTS groundwater · private · MI0003755 | 64 served |
| FAIRWAY LAKE CONDOMINIUMS groundwater · private · MI0002215 | 56 served |
| WEST PARK APARTMENTS groundwater · private · MI0005606 | 54 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 33 people were held in Otsego County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2020), or 217 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2012 it was about 43.
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 Otsego County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $43.2 million — $40.5 million to run schools, about $14,487 per student, plus $2.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $17 million local (mostly property tax), $22.8 million state, $3.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $112,000.
Spent $11.3 million — $9.6 million to run schools, about $13,333 per student, plus $1.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.3 million local (mostly property tax), $3.7 million state, $2.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $913,000.
Spent $1.8 million — $1.8 million to run schools, about $18,714 per student, plus $9,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.1 million local (mostly property tax), $383,000 state, $457,000 federal. Long-term debt: $235,000.
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 Otsego County about $7.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
25 bridges in Otsego County: 3 in good condition, 20 fair, and 2 poor (8.0%). “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.
| I-75 SB over M-32|W MAIN ST · built 1961 | 6,791 vehicles a day |
| I-75 NB over M-32|W MAIN ST · built 1961 | 6,791 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $13.6 million of work in Otsego County in fiscal 2025, about $543 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 Otsego 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 Otsego County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Michigan: the state government and every county in Michigan.
Nearby counties: Montmorency County (22 mi) · Crawford County (24 mi) · Antrim County (29 mi) · Cheboygan County (32 mi) · Oscoda County (32 mi) · Kalkaska County (34 mi).