Midland County, Michigan

Midland County is a county in Michigan, United States, part of the Tri-Cities region with Bay
City and Saginaw to the east. It had a population of 83,494 at the 2020 census, an estimated
83,754 by 2024, and covers 516 square miles (1,340 km2) of land centred near 43°38′N 84°23′W.

Midland is the county seat and the county’s largest city; its postal code is 48640. The county
holds 2 cities, 1 incorporated village and 11 unincorporated communities spread across 16
townships, and it runs on Eastern Time.

Towns & Villages in Midland County

Midland County has 14 named places on record: 2 cities, 1 village and 11 unincorporated
communities with no local government of their own. Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural
settlements that sit inside one of the county’s 16 townships but have never incorporated. Several
names on the county’s old settlement list — among them Alamando, Bombay, Curtis, Dean, Dice
Corners, Francis Grove, Golden, Lockport, Olson, Redstone, Ryan and Teeterville, plus a run of
manufactured-home parks such as Alpine MH Village and Southgate Mobile Village — could not be
confirmed against the Census Gazetteer, USGS, or Wikipedia and are left off this table.

The city of Midland is not part of any township — it is a home-rule city governed independently,
though Larkin and Midland Charter townships border it on three sides. Coleman sits inside the
outer boundary of Warren Township but is likewise a self-governing city; the two operate
separately despite sharing a name.

Townships

Midland County has 16 townships, 2 of them chartered (Larkin and Midland) and 14 organized as
general-law civil townships. Larkin Charter Township, in the county’s east, is the most populous.

ZIP Codes

• 48640 — Midland (also serves Larkin and Homer townships)
• 48642 — Midland east side and Larkin Township
• 48618 — Coleman (also serves Warren Township)
• 48657 — Sanford (also serves Jerome and Lincoln townships)
• 48628 — Hope (also serves Hope Township)

Averill, Floyd, St. Elmo, Laporte, Poseyville, North Bradley, Oil City, Pleasant Valley,
Gordonville and Edenville have no ZIP code of their own; each is a rural crossroads served by the
nearest post office town — Beaverton, Merrill, Shepherd, St. Louis or Breckenridge, depending on
which side of the county line the mail route runs.

Geography

Midland County is mostly level to gently rolling farmland and second-growth forest, drained by
the Tittabawassee River, which crosses the county from northwest to southeast and joins the
Chippewa and Pine rivers near the city of Midland. Of the county’s 528 square miles, 516 square
miles (1,340 km2) is land and 12 square miles (31 km2), or 2.2%, is water. The Tittabawassee was
impounded as Wixom Lake and Sanford Lake until the Edenville and Sanford dams failed in 2020;
both lakes have since been drained.

Midland County borders six other counties. Gladwin County lies to the north,
Bay County to the east, Saginaw County to the southeast, Gratiot County to the
south, Isabella County to the west, and Clare County to the northwest.

Demographics

The county had 83,494 residents at the 2020 census, up slightly to an estimated 83,754 in 2024.
Midland, with 42,547 residents, and Coleman, with 1,262, are the county’s two incorporated cities.
Land-area population density works out to about 162 people per square mile. Median household
income was $77,705 as of 2024 (American Community Survey 5-year estimate), above the $69,183
figure for Michigan as a whole in the 2023 ACS 1-year estimate.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing is the county’s largest employment sector, with 7,413 workers and the highest
average pay of any major industry at roughly $84,000 a year — driven by the Dow Chemical
Company, whose world headquarters sits in Midland. Health care and social assistance employs
6,874 people, led by MidMichigan Health, the largest single employer in the county with about
4,878 workers. Retail trade employs 3,977. Dow itself employs about 4,003 locally, and Midland
Public Schools employs roughly 1,039.

Northwood University, a private business school, and the Midland Center for the Arts, home to
two auditoriums and a symphony orchestra, are the county’s best-known institutions. Dow Gardens,
a 100-acre landscaped park started by Dow founder Herbert Henry Dow, and the Tridge, a three-way
pedestrian bridge over the Tittabawassee and Chippewa rivers in downtown Midland, draw visitors
year-round. The Dow Championship, an LPGA team golf tournament, is played each June at Midland
Country Club.

History

Midland County was set off in 1831 but was not effectively organized as a functioning county
government until 1855; it takes its name from its position near the geographical center of
Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. A rail connection reached Midland in 1874, and in 1897 Herbert Henry
Dow founded what became the Dow Chemical Company there, turning a small county seat into an
industrial and research hub that still anchors the local economy today.

On May 19, 2020, the Edenville Dam and Sanford Dam on the Tittabawassee River failed after heavy
rain, sending floodwater through Sanford and downtown Midland. About 10,000 Midland residents
were evacuated, Sanford’s downtown was largely destroyed, and Wixom Lake and Sanford Lake drained
to bare riverbed; both communities are still rebuilding.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Midland County. US–10 runs as a freeway along the northern edge of
the city of Midland, M–20 crosses the county east–west toward Mount Pleasant and Big Rapids, and
M–30 runs north from Sanford toward Gladwin.

• Bay City — about 20 miles east
• Saginaw — about 35 miles southeast
• Mount Pleasant — about 25 miles west
• Flint — about 70 miles south

MBS International Airport, near Freeland in Saginaw County, is the nearest commercial airport
with scheduled passenger service. No Amtrak station serves Midland County.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Midland County, Michigan located?
Midland County sits in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, part of the Tri-Cities region alongside Bay
City and Saginaw.

What is the population of Midland County?
Midland County had a population of 83,494 at the 2020 census, estimated at 83,754 by 2024.

How big is Midland County?
The county covers 528 square miles (1,370 km2) in total, of which 516 square miles (1,340 km2) is
land.

What is the county seat of Midland County?
Midland is the county seat and the county’s only city with more than 2,000 residents.

How many towns and villages are in Midland County?
The county has 2 cities, 1 village and 11 unincorporated communities across 16 townships.

What ZIP codes serve Midland County?
The main ZIPs are 48640 and 48642 (Midland), 48618 (Coleman), 48657 (Sanford) and 48628 (Hope);
several small communities share ZIPs with neighboring towns outside the county.

What happened to the Edenville and Sanford dams in 2020?
Both failed on May 19, 2020, flooding Sanford and downtown Midland and draining Wixom Lake and
Sanford Lake, which have not been refilled.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Michigan.