Shiawassee County, MI

County Profile

67,991 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Shiawassee County, MI.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 27% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1176th of 1,255 counties measured26
Schools742nd of 973 counties measured30
Growth1092nd of 1,226 counties measured27
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties measured100
Climate978th of 1,254 counties measured60
Physical resilienceTop 12% of 1,255 counties measured87
AccessTop 29% of 1,255 counties measured90
Economic stabilityTop 45% of 1,255 counties measured65
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 4.8% and the Opportunity signal places Shiawassee County in the bottom 6%.

In the public schools here, 30% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.7 students for every teacher.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing Shiawassee County in the top 12% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
67,991
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$67,404
Top 43% nationally
Density
128/sq mi
531.0 sq mi of land
Median age
43.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Shiawassee County
Michigan
Metro area
Owosso, MI
Nearest major airport
LAN
25 mi · Capital Region Intl
Median home value
$171,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.8% is lower than 28% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 6.9% over the past year, to 30,213 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,587$67,404Top 43%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,649$35,522Top 47%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.0%Bottom 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.5 minTop 26%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher20.0%Bottom 38%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment30,213Bottom 40%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-7.0%Bottom 3%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-6.9%Bottom 2%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force31,735Bottom 40%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation59.9%Top 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.7%Bottom 10%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate4.8%Top 28%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.03.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.8% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202467k58k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $67,404 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

30% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 47% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.7 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
27
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
29.5%
Bottom 28% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
46.6%
Bottom 34% in Michigan
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Owosso High SchoolOwosso Public Schools80517.5
Owosso Middle SchoolOwosso Public Schools64119.422%57%
Corunna High SchoolCorunna Public Schools61017.927%57%
Laingsburg Elementary SchoolLaingsburg Community Schools52116.837%53%
New Lothrop Elementary SchoolNew Lothrop Area Public Schools50516.844%52%
Elsa Meyer Elementary SchoolCorunna Public Schools48416.147%42%
Corunna Middle SchoolCorunna Public Schools43819.017%27%
Bryant SchoolOwosso Public Schools43115.419%14%
Emerson SchoolOwosso Public Schools42115.625%25%
Central SchoolOwosso Public Schools40917.032%41%
New Lothrop High SchoolNew Lothrop Area Public Schools39819.042%77%
Durand Area High SchoolDurand Area Schools38517.5

46.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Michigan’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $899 takes 16% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.5 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
16.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$899
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$171,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.55Bottom 31%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate80.1%Top 19%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±10030,354Top 26%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$51$899Top 45%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,537$171,600Bottom 45%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.0%Bottom 38%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.3%Bottom 16%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
27/ 100
Ranks 1092 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 67,982 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
66
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.0
Bottom 14% nationally
Year over year
0%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202468k68k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420257464
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was close to 2022 (−1%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 32.0 inches, including 52.1 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station FLINT BISHOP INTL AP, 20.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation32.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall52.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing48°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

87 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, strong wind and heat wave.

Strong windHigh
TornadoModerate
Ice stormModerate
HailModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, inland flooding, landslide, hurricane, earthquake, lightning, winter weather, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Shiawassee County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.2 per 100,000 residents in Shiawassee County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.2
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
17.6
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Shiawassee County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Shiawassee County rather than Shiawassee County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 25 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Capital Region IntlLAN25 mi8,506 ft
Mbs IntlMBS40 mi8,002 ft
Detroit Metro Wayne CountyDTW65 mi12,003 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
56
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Shiawassee County, MI