Cass County, Michigan

Cass County is a county in Michigan, United States, about 20 miles northeast of South Bend,
Indiana, hard against the Indiana state line. It had a population of 51,589 at the 2020 census,
an estimated 51,677 by 2025, and covers 508 square miles (1,320 km2) centred near 41°55′N 85°59′W.

Cassopolis is the county seat; its postal code is 49031. The county holds 1 city, 4 villages
and 12 unincorporated communities across 15 civil townships, and it runs on Eastern Time —
one time zone ahead of the Indiana counties it borders. Its FIPS code is 26027.

Towns & Villages in Cass County

Cass County has 17 named places on record: 1 city, 4 incorporated villages and 12
unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. CDP stands for census
designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural communities with no formal boundary.

Two names on this list are easy to confuse. La Grange is a rural crossroads community, distinct
from LaGrange Township, the township that surrounds most of Cassopolis and takes its name from
the same source. Penn, the unincorporated crossroads, is likewise separate from Penn Township,
home to the village of Vandalia.

Townships

Cass County’s 15 civil townships cover every part of the county outside Dowagiac, which
is not part of any township. Ontwa and Howard, the two townships closest to South Bend, are the
most populous.

ZIP Codes

• 49047 — Dowagiac
• 49031 — Cassopolis (the county seat’s ZIP, also serving the surrounding rural
  townships)
• 49112 — Edwardsburg (a second ZIP, 49120, covers the part of the village closer to the
  Indiana line)
• 49067 — Marcellus
• 49095 — Vandalia

Adamsville, Calvin Center, Charleston, Corey, Glenwood, Jones, La Grange, Penn, Pokagon,
Sumnerville, Union and Wakelee have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under the
nearest incorporated place’s code.

Geography

Cass County sits in Michigan’s far southwestern corner, a landscape of rolling till
plains, kettle lakes and small rivers left behind by the last glaciation. Of its 508 square
miles, 490 are land and 18 are water — about 3.6 percent, reflecting a county with more
than two dozen named lakes but no single dominant body of water. The St. Joseph River crosses
the northeastern part of the county through Howard and Volinia townships, and Christiana Lake,
Diamond Lake and Stone Lake are among the larger of its many glacial lakes.

Van Buren County lies to the north, St. Joseph County to the east, Berrien County to the west,
and Elkhart County, Indiana, borders the county to the southeast, with St. Joseph County,
Indiana, to the southwest. Van
Buren County, St. Joseph
County, Berrien County,
Elkhart County and St. Joseph County, Indiana all
border Cass directly.

Demographics

Cass County had a population of 51,589 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the
county near 51,677 residents. Dowagiac and Cassopolis are the two largest incorporated places,
though most residents live in the county’s townships rather than inside a city or village
— the Census Bureau classifies about three-quarters of the county as rural. Population
density works out to roughly 105 people per square mile of land, well below Michigan’s
statewide average, typical for a county without a major urban center of its own. County-level
household income figures were not available for this update; Michigan’s statewide median
household income was $69,183 in 2023, per the American Community Survey.

Economy & Local Life

Southwestern Michigan College, a two-year college founded in 1964 with its main campus in
Dowagiac, is the county’s largest single employer, enrolling roughly 2,000 students and
running a satellite campus near Niles. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, whose tribal
government is headquartered in Dowagiac, opened the Four Winds Dowagiac casino there in April
2013, adding a major gaming and hospitality employer to the city; the band also operates casinos
in New Buffalo and Hartford under its 2008 compact with Michigan, and holds trust land scattered
across the county. Agriculture remains central to the rural townships — corn, soybeans and
livestock dominate — alongside food processing and light manufacturing in and around
Dowagiac and Cassopolis. The Cass County Fair, held each August at the fairgrounds in Cassopolis,
is the county’s biggest annual event, drawing crowds for its livestock shows, demolition
derby and grandstand entertainment.

History

Michigan’s territorial legislature organized Cass County in 1829 and named it for Lewis
Cass, then governor of Michigan Territory and later a U.S. senator and presidential candidate.
Cassopolis, platted in 1831, became the county seat in the county’s early years and has
held that role ever since.

Before removal-era policy pushed most Potawatomi bands west to Kansas in the 1840s, the
ancestors of today’s Pokagon Band avoided that fate through land and treaty arrangements
tied to their Catholic mission ties, and their descendants remain based in Dowagiac. Cass
County’s Quaker farming communities also made the county a well-known stop on the
Underground Railroad. In August 1847, a party of Kentucky slave catchers seized nine escaped
freedom-seekers from Quaker farms near Cassopolis and Vandalia. Local residents intervened,
delaying the captors with legal proceedings in a sympathetic court long enough to get the
captives across the border into Canada — an episode remembered as the Kentucky Raid, one
of the events that helped push Congress toward the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Cass County. US 12 runs east-west through Edwardsburg and
Cassopolis, and state routes M-40, M-51, M-60, M-62, M-152, M-216 and M-217 connect the
county’s villages and townships.

• South Bend, Indiana — about 20 miles southeast
• Kalamazoo — about 35 miles northeast
• Niles — about 10 miles west
• Elkhart, Indiana — about 25 miles southeast

South Bend International Airport, roughly 20 miles southeast of Cassopolis, is the nearest
major commercial airport. Dowagiac Municipal Airport offers general aviation service with a
4,700-foot runway. Amtrak’s Wolverine service stops at Dowagiac Station, connecting to
Chicago and Detroit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Cass County located?
It sits in Michigan’s far southwestern corner, about 20 miles northeast of South Bend,
Indiana, bordered by Van Buren, St. Joseph and Berrien counties in Michigan and Elkhart and St.
Joseph counties in Indiana.

What is the population of Cass County?
51,589 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 51,677.

How big is Cass County?
508 square miles (1,320 km2), of which 490 square miles are land — the smallest county in
Michigan by total area.

What is the county seat of Cass County?
Cassopolis, platted in 1831, is the county seat.

How many towns and villages are in Cass County?
One city, Dowagiac, plus four incorporated villages — Cassopolis, Edwardsburg, Marcellus
and Vandalia — and twelve unincorporated communities including Pokagon, Calvin Center and
Wakelee.

What ZIP codes does Cass County use?
49047 for Dowagiac, 49031 for Cassopolis, 49112 and 49120 for Edwardsburg, 49067 for Marcellus,
and 49095 for Vandalia.

What is Cass County known for?
Its Underground Railroad history, including the 1847 Kentucky Raid near Cassopolis and Vandalia,
and its more than two dozen glacial lakes.

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