Osceola County Community Profile


Location U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts
for Osceola County


PRINT COMMUNITY PROFILE (PDF)
Communities
Transportation Colleges & Universities
Health Care   Utilities
Media  Employment Data
Osceola County's Largest Employers Industrial Parks
Geography Economic Development Partners
 
 


Location 



Osceola County is located in the west central portion of Michigan's lower peninsula.  The land is predominately agricultural and open space.  Although located in a rural setting Osceola County is within approximately an hour of several of Michigan's larger communities, such as Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and Mt. Pleasant. 
 px Map of Michigan highlighting Osceola County svg

 

Communities
Osceola County has 22 local units of government.  Listed below is each local unit of government and its population from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey.

 Cities (2)  Villages (4)   Townships (16) 
 City of Evart - 1,793  Hersey - 315  Burdell- 1,186
 City of Reed City - 2,472  LeRoy - 305  Cedar - 409
   Marion - 896  Evart - 1,561
   Tustin - 215  Hartwick - 546
                               Hersey - 1,698
 Highland - 1,161
 LeRoy - 1,551
 Lincoln - 1,487
 Marion - 1,678
 Middle Branch - 769
 Orient - 40
 Osceola - 1,132
 Richmond - 1,712
     Rose Lake - 1,405
     Sherman - 1,033
 

   Sylvan - 866
Transportation  
Mode Service Comments
Major
Road Network
US-131 (north-south)
US-10 (east-west)
M-115 (northeast-southeast)
M-66 (north-south)
four lane divided interstate; intersects I-94, I-96, and I-196
intersects US-131, US-127, and I-75
intersects US-127 and US-131
intersects I-94 and I-96
Air Evart Municipal Airport
City of Evart

located in industrial park
business and industrial users
4,200' lighted runway
Bus   Indian Trails
regional bus line

Bus
Mecosta Osceola Transportation Authority (MOTA)

local bus service
Rail Great Lakes Central Railroad Village of Marion
spur can be run into industrial park 

 

Colleges & Universities
There are several community colleges and universities within a 50 mile radius of either one or both of Osceola County's two cities.
  
College/University  Distance (miles)
Enrollment

Ferris State University
    
from Reed City
from Evart

14
26
7,901 Big Rapids campus
11,165 all campuses 
(2020 enrollment; FSU website)

Central Michigan University

from Reed City
from Evart

60
47
13,609 on-campus 
(2019-2020 enrollment; CMU website)

West Shore Community College
 
from Reed City

50
1,380 (Winter 2017)

Baker College

from Reed City  
from Evart

31
38
approximately 16,000 across all campuses
(2018-2019, Baker College website) 

Mid Michigan Community College

from Reed City
from Evart

47
33
4,964
(2018-2020 enrollment; Mid Michigan Community College website)


Health Care

Unlike many rural communities Osceola County residents and surrounding communities are fortunate to have access to local, advanced health care.  Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital  provides clinics, impatient care, rehab and nursing, and 24-hour emergency services.  In addition to these services the Reed City Hospital is connected to the entire Spectrum Health system.  Spectrum Health also has clinics in Evart and Tustin.

The Susan P. Wheatlake Regional Cancer Center is also located in Reed City.  This regional cancer center is located just up the street from the Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital.


Utilities  
Electricity Consumers Energy, Great Lakes Energy
Natural Gas DTE Energy
Water/Sewer Municipal services in Evart, Marion, and Reed City.  Well and septic in all other areas.
Cable TV Spectrum, Summit Digital
Broadband Osceola County has two Gigabit communities.  Casair has a 10 Gig fiber network that runs through both the city of Reed City and Village of Hersey.  The 10 Gig fiber network can be viewed from Casair's Fiber Network Map.  Casair will soon be running additional fiber in other locations in the County.  
 

Media  
7&4 WPBN NBC affiliate broadcasting from Traverse City.
9&10 News (WWTV) CBS affiliate broadcasting from Cadillac.
Cadillac News Daily paper covering Cadillac and surrounding communities (Osceola County).
FOX 32 FOX affiliate broadcasting from Cadillac.
Marion Press Weekly newspaper with a coverage area that includes the Village of Marion and the City of Evart.
Pioneer Daily paper covering Big Rapids and surrounding communities (Osceola County).  An Osceola County specific edition is published once a week. 
WGTU ABC affiliate broadcasting from Traverse City.
 

2018 County Business Patterns
(U.S. Census Bureau, 2018 County Business Patterns, Table CB1800CBP)  
2012 NAICS Code (see note) Meaning of 2012
NAICS Code 
Year Number of Establishments Number of Paid Employees for Pay Period that included March 12th 1st Qtr. Payroll  ($1,000) Annual Payroll ($1,000) 
00   Total for all sectors 2018 432 6,073 56,362 245,217
11 Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting 2018 7 40 349 1,131
21 Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction 2018 5 126 1,551 7,698
22 Utilities 2018 4 47 1,081 4,284
23 Construction 2018 49 528 10,473 48,728
31-33 Manufacturing 2018 44 2,170 21,346 91,512
42 Wholesale Trade 2018 11 113 1,036 4,546
44-45 Retail trade 2018 64 591 3,537 14,811
48-49 Transportation and
warehousing
2018 13 135 1,569 6,729
52 Finance and insurance 2018 21 119 1,185 4,933
53 Real estate and rental and leasing 2018 14 9 87 377
54 Professional, scientific, and technical services 2018 24 94 801 4,071
56 Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services 2018 16 101 504 1,347
62 Health care and social assistance 2018 49 1,010 6,740 28,183
71 Arts, entertainment, and recreation 2018 4 4 18 274
72 Accommodation and food services 2018 40 532 1,722 9,740
81 Other services (except public administration) 2018 63 266 1,126 4,899
   note: NAICS; North American Industrial Classification Standard     


Osceola County's Largest Employers
Employer Approximate # Employees  Industry 
Ventra 1,070 Manufacturing (Tier II automotive)
Spectrum Health 460 Health Care
General Mills 380 Manufacturing (food processing)
Osceola County 200 (122 full-time) Government (county)
Reed City Public Schools 130 Education (K-12)
Evart Public Schools 110 Education (K-12)
Pine River Public Schools 110 Education (K-12)
Kraftube 105 Manufacturing (furnace brazing, stamping, molding components for various product lines)
LeRoy Tool & Die 100 Manufacturing (plastic & rubber molds, rubber parts)
Cargill 90 Mining (salt)
Reed City Group 90 Manufacturing (plastic injection molding, tooling, automation)


Industrial Parks    
Evart Air-Industrial Park  47 acres  Michigan Certified Business Park  
4,200' runway 
Marion Industrial Park  13 acres  Rail spur can be run into industrial  park


Geography (Source: 2010 U.S. Census, Summary File 1)  
  Osceola County  Michigan 
Total Area in square miles 573.10 96,713.51
Total Land Area in square miles  566.39  (98.8%) 56,538.90  (58.5%)
Total Water Area in square miles 6.71      (1.17%) 40,174.61  (41.5%)
Population Density per square mile of land 41.5 174.8
Housing Density per square mile of land 24.1  80.2
 

Economic Development Partners
In addition to the Osceola County Community Development Office there are other organizations that are available to assist businesses in Osceola County.  


Evart
Downtown Development Authority (DDA); (231) 734-0185

       
Marion
Chamber of Commerce; (231) 743-2461

Reed City
Chamber of Commerce; (231) 832-5431