Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a principal county of the Detroit metropolitan area, containing the bulk of Detroit's northern suburbs. Its county seat is Pontiac, and its largest city is Troy. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,274,395, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan (behind neighboring Wayne County), and the most populous county in the United States without a city of 100,000 residents.
Founded in 1819 and organized the following year, Oakland County is composed of 62 cities, villages, and townships. In 2010, Oakland County was among the ten wealthiest counties in the United States that had over one million residents. It is also home to Oakland University, a large public institution that straddles the border between the cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills.
History
Founded by Territorial Governor Lewis Cass in 1819, sparsely populated Oakland County was formed from Macomb County on 28 March 1820.Terr. Papers U.S., 10:842, 11:40 cited in "Oakland County". Library of Michigan. Accessed 24 August 2024. As was customary at the time, as populations increased, other counties were organized from its land area. Over the next 16 years, Oakland lost territory to the creation of the counties of Lapeer (10 Sep 1822), Saginaw (10 Sep 1822), Sanilac (10 Sep 1822), Shiawassee (10 Sep 1822), Washtenaw (10 Sep 1822), Barry (29 Oct 1829), Calhoun (29 Oct 1829), Eaton (29 Oct 1829), Ingham (29 Oct 1829), Jackson (29 Oct 1829), Kalamazoo (29 Oct 1829), Arenac (2 Mar 1831), Gladwin (2 Mar 1831), Midland (2 Mar 1831), Livingston (21 Mar 1833), and Genesee (28 Mar 1835).Michigan: Consolidated Chronology of State and County Boundaries. Michigan Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. The Newberry Library 2007. Accessed 23 August 2024.
Woodward Avenue and the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad helped draw settlers in the 1840s. By 1840, Oakland had more than fifty lumber mills, processing wood harvested from the region and the Upper Peninsula. Pontiac, located on the Clinton River, was Oakland's first town and became the county seat. After the Civil War, Oakland was still primarily a rural, agricultural county with numerous isolated villages. By the end of the 19th century, three rail lines served Pontiac, and the city attracted carriage and wagon factories. In the late 1890s streetcars were constructed here and operated between Detroit.
At that time, developers made southern Oakland County a suburb of Detroit; a Cincinnati firm platted a section of Royal Oak called "Urbanrest". Migration worked both ways. Several thousand people moved from Oakland County farms to Detroit as the city attracted factories. By 1910, a number of rich Detroiters had summer homes and some year-round residences in what became Bloomfield Hills. The auto age enveloped Pontiac in the early 1900s. The Oakland Motor Car Company was founded in 1907 and became a part of General Motors Corp., which was soon Pontiac's dominant firm.
In the 1950s, Oakland County's population boomed as Detroiters began migrating to the suburbs. While the neighboring Macomb County was more inhabited by auto workers and other blue-collar workers, Oakland County's residents tended to be more affluent and generally white-collar (e.g. doctors, lawyers). Oakland County was for a time the fourth-wealthiest county in the United States, though its position has declined somewhat since the Great Recession. The median price of a home in Oakland County increased to $164,697, more than $30,000 above the national median home value. Oakland County is home to several super-regional shopping malls such as Oakland Mall, Somerset Collection, Twelve Oaks Mall, and Great Lakes Crossing Outlets.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (4.4%) is water.
Oakland County was originally divided into 25 separate townships, which are listed below. Each township is roughly equal in size at by six miles, for a total township area of . The roots of this design were born out of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the subsequent Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Oakland County itself is a prime example of the land policy that was established, as all townships are equal in size (save for slight variations due to waterways). Section 16 in each township was reserved for financing and maintaining public education, and even today many schools in Oakland County townships are located within that section.
Wayne County, where the city of Detroit is located, borders Oakland County to the south. 8 Mile Road, also known as "Baseline Road" in some areas, is the boundary between these counties. The baseline was used during the original surveying for Michigan, and it serves as the northern/southern boundaries for counties from Lake St. Clair to Lake Michigan. As more working and middle-class populations moved to the suburbs from the 1950s on, this divide (8 Mile Road) became historically known as an unofficial racial dividing line between what became the predominantly black city and almost exclusively white suburbs.
Since the late 20th century, the patterns of de facto segregation have faded as the suburbs have become more diverse. Middle-class African Americans have left Detroit, settling in inner-ring suburbs, notably Southfield (where the population is 75% Black), west of Woodward Avenue. Based on the 2010 census, the following cities also have significant non-white populations: Farmington (25.3%), Farmington Hills (31.7%), Novi (30.12%), Oak Park (62.61%), Lathrup Village (72.97%), Orchard Lake Village (16.08%), Rochester Hills (20.94%), Troy (29.4%), Wixom (26.28%), West Bloomfield (24.0%), Bloomfield (18.28%), Bloomfield Hills (14.2%), Ferndale (17.2%), and Madison Heights (17.7%). Ferndale has a concentration of Arab Americans, who also live in nearby areas, and numerous Asian Americans, particularly Indians, have also settled in these areas.
Adjacent counties Lapeer County (northeast) Genesee County (northwest) Macomb County (east) Wayne County (southeast) Washtenaw County (southwest) Livingston County (west)
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Oakland County, Michigan – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010 Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)932,805958,300971,752903,398879,13792.19%88.44%81.38%75.14%68.98%Black or African American alone (NH)47,62976,801119,708162,303168,7974.71%7.09%10.02%13.50%13.25%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)2,7373,6592,8542,8722,2360.27%0.34%0.24%0.24%0.18%Asian alone (NH)11,72024,64349,21267,577105,6651.16%2.27%4.12%5.62%8.29%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)x included in the Asian category in the 1980 Censusx included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census258212304xx0.02%0.02%0.02%Other race alone (NH)2,4245591,6811,4395,2300.24%0.05%0.14%0.12%0.41%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)x not an option in the 1980 Censusx not an option in the 1990 Census19,69222,64152,188xx1.65%1.88%4.10%Hispanic or Latino (any race)14,47819,63028,99941,92060,8381.43%1.81%2.43%3.49%4.77%Total1,011,7931,083,5921,194,1561,202,3621,274,395 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 1,274,395 people in 524,047 households, with an average of 2.4 persons per household. The median age was 41.0 years; 20.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.5 males age 18 and over. Females comprised 50.6% of the population, roughly 13.1% of residents were foreign-born, and 49.5% of residents ages 25 and over had at least a bachelor's degree.
The racial makeup of the county was 70.1% White, 13.4% Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 8.3% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 1.8% from some other race, and 6.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 4.8% of the population.
94.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 5.5% lived in rural areas.
There were 524,047 households in the county, of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 48.5% were married-couple households, 18.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 27.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 554,403 housing units, of which 5.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 70.7% were owner-occupied and 29.3% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.6%.
2000 census
Among Asian Americans, eight ethnic groups had more than 1,000 members in the county in 2000. The most numerous were those of Asian Indian descent, with 20,705. Next were those of Chinese heritage, numbering 10,018. Next were those of Japanese (5,589), Filipino (5,450) Korean (5,351), Vietnamese (1,687), Pakistani (1,458) and Hmong (1,210) ancestry.See search results from United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 2, 2007.
In 2001, Oakland County had the 36th largest Asian population of any county in the country.Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza. "Asians in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit ." Wayne State University Center for Urban Studies-January 2001 Working Paper Series, No. 7, p. 5. Retrieved on September 8, 2013. In 2002, of the Oakland-Wayne-Macomb tricounty area, Oakland County had 49% of the tri-county area's Asian population.Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza. "Asians in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit ." Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University. January 2002 Working Paper Series, No. 7. p. 7. Retrieved on November 6, 2013.
The median income for a household in the county in 2020 was $92,620, making Oakland County the 71st wealthiest county in the United States and the wealthiest county in Michigan. About 8.72% of the population were below the poverty line.
Government The county government operates the major local courts, keeps files of deeds and mortgages, maintains vital records, administers public health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of welfare and other social services. The county board of commissioners controls the budget but has limited authority to make laws or ordinances. In Michigan, most local government functions—police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance, etc.—are the responsibility of individual cities and townships.
Service Center Most county operations are based at the Oakland County Service Center, which straddles Telegraph Road, split between Pontiac and neighboring Waterford Township."Complex Map" (). Oakland County Government. Retrieved on July 9, 2015. The east campus (in Pontiac) consists mostly of the courthouse, jail, and Sheriff's Office, while the west campus (in Waterford) contains the county executive's office, Children's Village (the county's juvenile detention center), and the headquarters of Oakland Schools, the Road Commission, and a number of other departments."Oakland County Children's Village" (). The Government of Oakland County. Retrieved on July 9, 2015. "Oakland County Children's Village 1200 North Telegraph Road Pontiac, MI 48341""Oakland County Executive Office Building Conference Center Locator Map & Directions" (). Oakland County Government. Retrieved on July 10, 2015.
In May 2023, the county government announced a plan to relocate select offices from the Service Center back to downtown Pontiac.
Elected officials County Executive: Dave Coulter (D-Ferndale) Prosecuting Attorney: Karen McDonald (D-Birmingham) Sheriff: Mike Bouchard (R-Bloomfield Hills)