Click to Enlarge

Tuscola County's early settlers depended greatly upon the lumber industry. As the lumbering era ended, agricultural activities took precedence and continue to be the primary land usage in the county today. Tuscola County is located in the "thumb" area of east central Michigan. The county's character is rural and agricultural. Many small cities and villages are scattered throughout the landscape. Approximately 66% of the land is devoted to agricultural uses. The county ranks number one in the state for sugar beet production. Potatoes, dairy products, poultry, corn, barley, wheat, oats, and rye are among its other agricultural products.

General Data

DISTANCE	MILES	KM
Chicago	330	530
Cleveland	240	386
Detroit	90	144
Indianapolis	340	547
Lansing	90	144

YEARS	POPULATION
1970	48,603
1980	56,961
1990	55,498
2000	58,266
Source:Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1) 100-Percent Data, 2000

WORKFORCE
LABOR	2000
Total Workforce	27,700
Number Employed	26,225
Number Unemployed	1,475
Unemployment Rate	5.3
Source:Michigan Employment Service Agency, 2000

CHARACTERISTICS OF LABOR FORCE
LABOR	1990
Workers 16 years and over	22,226
Percentage who work outside of county	46.7%
Percentage who work at home	4.0%
Source:U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population and Housing, 1990

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS
CLASSIFACTION	1990
Persons 25 years of age or older	34,607
Percentage with high school diploma	73.0%
Percentage with bachelor's degree	8.12%
Source:U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population and Housing, 1990

TRANSPORTATION
ACCESS TO MARKETS
Main Highways	M-46, M-138, M-24, M-81, M-25, M-15
Bus Lines	None
Truck Lines	5
Rail Lines	Grand Trunk Western; Chesapeake & Ohio; Tuscola & Saginaw Bay
Ports	Bay City (25 mi-Lake Huron)
Airports	Bishop International Airport (Genesee Co.), Caro Municipal Airport
Airlines	Continental Express, Northwest, United, USAir Express, ComAir, Delta Express
Source: MI State Transportation Commission, 1995

Economy

EARNING LEVELS/LABOR RATES AVERAGE HOURLY RATES
CLASSIFICATION	MINIMUM*	MAXIMUM
Applications Software Specialist	6.50	11.25
Assembler - Light	4.25	7.25
Drafter (CAD)	5.50	11.00
Electrician - Industrial	7.50	12.00
Electronic Technician	6.50	9.75
Forklift Operator	5.25	8.50
General Office Clerk	4.25	7.25
General Laborer	4.50	8.00
Injection Molding Machinist	4.50	8.00
Machine Operator	4.75	8.50
Machinist	6.00	10.50
Mechanical Engineer	10.00	20.00
Production Manager/Supervisor	8.00	10.50
Quality Control Technician	7.00	10.00
Sales - Non-Technical	5.00	10.25
Secretary	5.00	9.00
Tool and Die Maker	7.50	12.75
Word Processor/Typist	4.75	8.50
Source: 1996 Survey of the Michigan Employment Security Commission
*This survey was done in 1996, before the hourly minimum wage was increased to $5.15 in September 1997.

PRINCIPLE EMPLOYERS
MANUFACTURING EMPLOYERS
SIC	FIRM	LOCATION	EMPLOYEES	PRODUCT
3592	Walbro Corp	Cass City	850	Carburetors, pumps, inj systs
3321	Grede-Vassar Inc	Vassar	260	Gray iron & heat resist castings
3561	Walbro Automotive Corp	Caro	230	Electric fuel pumps
2752	Kaumagraph Flint Corp	Millington	220	Automotive screen printing
3083	Plastech	Caro	175	Cust inj mold thermoplastic pts
3357	General Cable Co	Cass City	162	Communications products
3714	Means Industries-Vassar	Vassar	150	Metal stampings: vehicle parts
2063	Michigan Sugar Co	Caro	85	Beet , liquid sugar; molasses
3089	Caro Manufacturing Corp	Caro	80	Blow molded plastic products
3599	Hillsdale Tool & Manufacturing	Vassar	70	Mach & assem gray iron pumps
2759	Midwest Rotary Maniforms Co	Caro	70	Specialty printing
2013	Erla's Inc	Cass City	65	Sausage processing & packing
3496	Anrod Screen Cylinder Co	Cass City	60	Wire cloth, indl filters & strainers
3545	Cole Carbide Industries Inc	Cass City	60	Carbide cutting tools
3269	Engineered Tools Corp	Caro	50	Carbide & ceramic cutting tools
2875	Agrium U S Inc	Reese	45	Mix & blend fertilizers, nutrients
3465	Peters Manufacturing Co Inc	Vassar	45	Auto stampings, welding
3535	Loudon Steel	Millington	40	Structural steel fabricating
3325	Astech Inc	Vassar	40	Resistant castings; steels
2711	Caro Publishing	Caro	38	Newsp& shoppers guide publ
Source: Harris Publishing Company, 1998 Industrial Directory

OTHER MAJOR EMPLOYERS
SIC	FIRM	LOCATION	EMPLOYEES	PRODUCT
8059	Michigan Dept Mental Health	Caro	500	Health care
8211	Tuscola Intermediate School Dist.	Caro	350	School/education
8361	Wolverine Human Services	Vassar	260	Residential care
9111	Tuscola County	Caro	175	Executive offices
8062	Hills and Dales General Hospital	Cass City	160	Health care
8051	Tuscola County Medical Care Facility	Caro	145	Health care
8641	Caro Community Hospital	Caro	135	Civic social associations
8051	Tendercare (MI) Inc.	Cass City	104	Health care
5411	Central Shop-Rite of Caro Inc.	Caro	100	Grocery stores
5311	Wal-Mart Stores Inc.	Caro	85	Department stores
Source: Local County Economic Development Contact

NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS
Type of Service	1999
Total	1098
Forestry, fishing, hunting, and agriculture support	4
Mining	4
Utilities	3
Construction	193
Manufacturing	51
Food mfg	5
Textile mills	1
Wood product mfg	2
Printing & related support activities	2
Petroleum & coal products mfg	1
Chemical mfg	2
Plastics & rubber products mfg	5
Nonmetallic mineral product mfg	1
Primary metal mfg	2
Fabricated metal product mfg	8
Machinery mfg	6
Electrical equip, appliance & component mfg	1
Transportation equipment mfg	8
Furniture & related product mfg	6
Miscellaneous mfg	1
Wholesale trade	48
Retail trade	190
Transportation & warehousing	34
Information	18
Publishing industries	3
Motion picture & sound recording industries	3
Broadcasting & telecommunications	11
Information & data processing services	1
Finance & insurance	72
Real estate & rental & leasing	24
Professional, scientific & technical services	48
Management of companies & enterprises	3
Admin, support, waste mgt, remediation services	25
Educational services	5
Health care and social assistance	110
Arts, entertainment & recreation	20
Accommodation & food services	78
Other services (except public administration)	142
Auxiliaries (exc corporate, subsidiary & regional mgt)	3
Unclassified establishments	23
Source:U.S. Department of Commerce and Bureau of the Census, County Business Patterns, Issued May 2001

Quality of Life

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT INFORMATION
COMMUNITY	SCHOOL DISTRICT	STUDENTS	INSTRUCTORS	HIGH SCHOOLS
Caro	Caro Community Schools	2,267	123	1
Cass City	Cass City Public Schools	1,650	78	1
Fairgrove	Akron-Fairgrove Schools	622	30	1
Kingston	Kingston Community Schools	805	36	1
Mayville	Mayville Community Schools	1,325	66	1
Millington	Millington Community Schools	1,731	86	1
Reese	Reese Public Schools	1,200	57	1
Sebewaing	Unionville-Sebewaing Area Schools	957	55	1
Vassar	Vassar Public Schools	1,850	87	1
Source: MI Department of Education, 1997

TWO YEAR COLLEGES AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS
NAME	LOCATION	ENROLLMENT
Great Lakes Junior College	Saginaw (Saginaw Co.)	2,250
Mott Community College	Flint (Genesee Co.)	10,469

FOUR YEAR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
NAME	LOCATION	ENROLLMENT
University of Michigan - Flint	Flint (Genesee Co.)	6,675
GMI Engineering & Management	Flint (Genesee Co.)	2,500
Source: MI Department of Education, 1996

MEDICAL FACILITIES
TYPE OF FACILITY	# IN COUNTY	# OF BEDS
Hospitals	2	115
Source: MI Department of Consumer and Industry Services, 1998

HOUSING (1990)
OWNER OCCUPIED	MEDIAN VALUE	RENTER OCCUPIED	MEDIAN RENT
15,817	$46,000	3,652	$268
Source:U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population and Housing, 1990

CLIMATE
MONTH	AVG. MIN TEMP	AVG. MAX TEMP.
January	13F./-11C.	29F./-2C.
July	57F./14C.	84F./29C.
PRECIPITATION	RAINFALL	SNOWFALL
Average Annual	28in./71cm.	37in./94cm.
GROWING SEASON	DAYS ABOVE 90F/32C	DAYS BELOW 0F/-18C
122	15	14
Source: NOAA Climate Summary, 1995

RECREATION

COUNTY HIGHLIGHTS

Caro Arts & Crafts Fair (early June); Caro Historical Museum; Pumpkin Festival, Caro (early October); Gagetown Octagonal Barn Festival (August); Heritage Festival (early August); Vassar Golf & Country Club; Quanicassee Wildlife Area; Tuscola State Game Area; Cass City State Game Area; Watrousville Museum; Fish Point Wildlife Area; Michigan Bean Festival; Tuscola County Fair (late June/early July); Chippewa Landing Festival (October); Cass River, North, Shay, Evergreen, Harmon, Clark,and Phelps Lakes; Chippewa Trails; Ber-Wa-Ga-Na Campgrounds; Pennywick Express; Watrousville Tree Farm; seven public golf courses; boating resources (20.1 Lake Huron shoreline mileage, 184 stream mileage, and seven public access sites).

Source: Local County Economic Development Contact

Municipal Services

UTILITIES
COMMUNITY	ELECTRIC	GAS
Tuscola, Millington, Arbela, Denmark	Consumers Power	Consumers Power
Elmwood, Fairgrove, Akron, Dayton, Kingston, Ellington,	Detroit Edison	Consumers Power
Denmark, Juniata, Elkland, Wisner, Verona, Koylton, Arbela,
Vassar, Fremont, Wells, Almer, Watertown
Akron, Arbela, Almer, Columbia, Dayton, Elkland, Ellington,	Thumb	Consumers Power
Juniata, Kingston, Koylton, Novesta, Vassar, Watertown,
Source: Local County Economic Development Contact

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Local Phone Companies	Ameritech, Century, GTE, Wolverine
Long Distance Companies	AT&T, MCI, Sprint, and others
Source: Local County Economic Development Contact

LICENSED LANDFILLS
COMMUNITY	OWNER/MANAGER
Arbella	Tuscola Land Development Co.
Source: MDEQ Waste Management Division, 1998

PROPERTY TAX (1997)
Agriculture	Comercial	Industrial	Residential	Other
30.75%	8.41%	7.83%	52.55%	0.46%
Source:MI Department of Treasury, 1997

GOVERNMENT
COMMUNITY	PHONE NUMBER	COMMUNITY	PHONE NUMBER
Akron Twp	(989) 674-2669	Almer Twp	(989) 673-4458
Arbela Twp	(989) 871-2022	Caro (City of)	(989) 673-2226
Cass City	(989) 872-2911	Columbia Twp	(989) 674-2527
Dayton Twp	(989) 843-5647	Denmark Twp	(989) 868-9801
Elkland Twp	(989) 872-4843	Ellington Twp	(989) 872-3437
Elmwood Twp	(989) 665-2416	Fairgrove Twp	(989) 673-6978
Fremont Twp	(989) 843-6018	Gilford Twp	(989) 693-6026
Indianfields Twp	(989) 673-3416	Juniata Twp	(989) 673-4332
Kingston Twp	(989) 683-2465	Koylton Twp	(989) 683-2900
Millington (City of)	(989) 871-2702	Millington Twp	(989) 871-4418
Novesta Twp	(989) 872-3608	Tuscola Twp	(989) 871-4507
Vassar (City of)	(989) 823-8517	Vassar Twp	(989) 823-3541
Watertown Twp	(989) 795-2127	Wells Twp	(989) 673-2579
Wisner Twp	(989) 693-6570
Source: Local County Economic Development Contact

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONTACT

Contact: Mr. James McLoskey

Business: Tuscola County Economic Development Corporation

Address: 157 N. State

Caro, MI 48723

Phone: (517) 673-2849

*LDO's=Local Development Organizations

Source: Local County Economic Development Contact