Oakland County, Michigan | |
|---|---|
| County of Oakland | |
   .jpg)  .jpg) Top-to-bottom, left-to-right: Troy's skyline, Southfield's skyline, Rackham Fountain (at the Detroit Zoo), National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica (Royal Oak), Downtown Pontiac, Downtown Royal Oak (downtown Detroit on the horizon) | |
 Flag  Seal  Logo | |
 Location within the state of Michigan | |
 Cities and Townships in the county | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Michigan |
| Metro | Metro Detroit |
| Incorporated | 1819 (created) 1820 (organized)[1][2] |
| County seat | Pontiac (Legislative and Judicial) Waterford (Executive) |
| Largest city |  Troy |
| Government | |
| • Executive | David Coulter (D) |
| Area | |
• Total | 907 sq mi (2,350 km2) |
| • Land | 868 sq mi (2,250 km2) |
| • Water | 40 sq mi (100 km2) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 1,274,395 |
• Estimate (2024) | 1,296,888 |
| • Density | 1,470/sq mi (567/km2) |
| GDP | |
| • Total | $124.285 billion (2022) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern Time Zone) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (Eastern Daylight Time) |
| Area codes | 248 and947 |
| Website | oakgov |
Oakland County is acounty in theU.S. state ofMichigan. It is a principal county of theDetroit metropolitan area, containing the bulk of Detroit's northern suburbs. Itscounty seat isPontiac,[a] and its largest city isTroy.[4] As of the2020 census, its population 1,274,395,[5] making it the second-most populous county in Michigan (behind neighboringWayne 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,[1][6] Oakland County is composed of 62 cities, villages, and townships. In 2010, Oakland County was among the ten wealthiest counties in the United States to have over one million residents.[7] It is also home toOakland University, a large public institution that straddles the border between the cities ofAuburn Hills andRochester Hills.
Founded by Territorial GovernorLewis Cass in 1819,[citation needed] sparsely populated Oakland County was formed fromMacomb County on 28 March 1820.[8] 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 ofLapeer (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), andGenesee (28 Mar 1835).[8][9]
Woodward Avenue and theDetroit 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 theClinton 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.[citation needed]
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 richDetroiters had summer homes and some year-round residences in what became Bloomfield Hills. The auto age enveloped Pontiac in the early 1900s. TheOakland Motor Car Company was founded in 1907 and became a part of General Motors Corp., which was soon Pontiac's dominant firm.[10]
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).[11] Oakland County was for a time the fourth-wealthiest county in the United States, though its position has declined somewhat since the Great Recession.[12] The median price of a home in Oakland County increased to $164,697, more than $30,000 above the national median. Oakland County is home to several super-regional shopping malls such asOakland Mall,Somerset Collection,Twelve Oaks Mall, andGreat Lakes Crossing Outlets.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 907 square miles (2,350 km2), of which 868 square miles (2,250 km2) is land and 40 square miles (100 km2) (4.4%) is water.[13]
Oakland County was originally divided into 25 separatetownships, which are listed below. Each township is roughly equal in size at six miles (9.7 km) by six miles, for a total township area of 36 square miles (93 km2). The roots of this design were born out of theLand Ordinance of 1785 and the subsequentNorthwest 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 ofDetroit 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 fromLake St. Clair toLake 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 predominantlyblack city and almost exclusivelywhite suburbs.
Since the late 20th century, the patterns ofde factosegregation 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 ofWoodward 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 ofArab Americans, who also live in nearby areas, and numerousAsian Americans, particularlyIndians, have also settled in these areas.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1820 | 330 | — | |
| 1830 | 4,911 | 1,388.2% | |
| 1840 | 23,646 | 381.5% | |
| 1850 | 31,270 | 32.2% | |
| 1860 | 38,261 | 22.4% | |
| 1870 | 40,867 | 6.8% | |
| 1880 | 41,537 | 1.6% | |
| 1890 | 41,245 | −0.7% | |
| 1900 | 44,792 | 8.6% | |
| 1910 | 49,576 | 10.7% | |
| 1920 | 90,050 | 81.6% | |
| 1930 | 211,251 | 134.6% | |
| 1940 | 254,068 | 20.3% | |
| 1950 | 396,001 | 55.9% | |
| 1960 | 690,259 | 74.3% | |
| 1970 | 907,871 | 31.5% | |
| 1980 | 1,011,793 | 11.4% | |
| 1990 | 1,083,592 | 7.1% | |
| 2000 | 1,194,156 | 10.2% | |
| 2010 | 1,202,362 | 0.7% | |
| 2020 | 1,274,395 | 6.0% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 1,296,888 | [14] | 1.8% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[15] 1790–1960[16] 1900–1990[17] 1990–2000[18] 2010–2019[5] | |||
As of the2020 census there were 1,274,402 people and 524,762 households in the county with an average of 2.4 persons per household. 70.0% were Non-Hispanic White alone, 13.9%Black or African American alone, 8.8%Asian, 0.3% American Indian or Alaskan Native, and 2.5%of two or more races. 5% wereHispanic or Latino (of any race). Roughly 13.1% of county residents were foreign-born.
Of households in the county, 20.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them, and 19.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. About 50.6% of county residents were female. Roughly half (49.5%) of county residents ages 25+ had at least a bachelor's degree.
Among Asian Americans, eight ethnic groups had more than 1,000 members in the county in 2000. The most numerous were those ofAsian Indian descent, with 20,705. Next were those ofChinese heritage, numbering 10,018. Next were those ofJapanese (5,589),Filipino (5,450)Korean (5,351),Vietnamese (1,687),Pakistani (1,458) andHmong (1,210) ancestry.[19]
In 2001, Oakland County had the 36th largest Asian population of any county in the country.[20] In 2002, of the Oakland-Wayne-Macomb tricounty area, Oakland County had 49% of the tri-county area's Asian population.[21]
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[22] and the wealthiest county in Michigan. Of housing units in the county, 71.9% were owner occupied. About 8.72% of the population were below thepoverty line.
The county government operates the major local courts, keeps files of deeds and mortgages, maintainsvital records, administerspublic health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of welfare and other social services. Thecounty board of commissioners controls the budget but has limited authority to make laws or ordinances.[23] 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.
Most county operations are based at the Oakland County Service Center, which straddles Telegraph Road, split between Pontiac and neighboring Waterford Township.[24] 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'sjuvenile detention center), and the headquarters of Oakland Schools, the Road Commission, and a number of other departments.[25][26]
In May 2023, the county government announced a plan to relocate select offices from the Service Center back to downtown Pontiac.[27][28]
TheOakland County Sheriff's Office is the largest sheriff's department in the state ofMichigan. In 2017 it had 859 uniformed officers,[30] although in 2022 it had nearly 100 unfilled vacancies.[31] RepublicanMichael Bouchard has served as the Oakland County Sheriff since 1999.
Ten townships, 3 cities, and 2 villages in the county do not have municipal police forces,[32] but rather contract with the sheriff for police services specific to the municipalities. Those municipalities areAddison Township (including the village ofLeonard),Brandon Township (including the village ofOrtonville),Clarkston,Commerce Township,Highland Township,Independence Township,Lyon Township,Oakland Township,Orion Township,Oxford Township,Springfield Township,Pontiac, andRochester Hills.[33] The Oakland County Sheriff's Office also operates thecounty jail, a civil division, marine division, alcohol and traffic enforcement units, and an aviation division. The marine patrol and rescue unit patrols 450 lakes across the county.[34]
Roads that are not maintained by a local community (city/village) are maintained by the independent Road Commission for Oakland County, which is governed by three board members appointed by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners.[35]
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1884 | 4,842 | 45.03% | 5,386 | 50.09% | 525 | 4.88% |
| 1888 | 5,389 | 47.31% | 5,410 | 47.50% | 591 | 5.19% |
| 1892 | 4,763 | 44.98% | 4,925 | 46.51% | 902 | 8.52% |
| 1896 | 5,846 | 46.01% | 5,271 | 41.49% | 1,588 | 12.50% |
| 1900 | 6,173 | 53.04% | 4,966 | 42.67% | 499 | 4.29% |
| 1904 | 6,986 | 61.88% | 3,956 | 35.04% | 347 | 3.07% |
| 1908 | 6,267 | 58.18% | 3,950 | 36.67% | 554 | 5.14% |
| 1912 | 4,083 | 35.46% | 3,668 | 31.86% | 3,762 | 32.68% |
| 1916 | 7,730 | 51.86% | 6,659 | 44.67% | 517 | 3.47% |
| 1920 | 19,321 | 70.98% | 6,421 | 23.59% | 1,478 | 5.43% |
| 1924 | 28,603 | 81.27% | 4,105 | 11.66% | 2,488 | 7.07% |
| 1928 | 45,343 | 81.53% | 10,011 | 18.00% | 264 | 0.47% |
| 1932 | 32,462 | 47.79% | 33,135 | 48.78% | 2,331 | 3.43% |
| 1936 | 30,071 | 40.64% | 40,329 | 54.50% | 3,597 | 4.86% |
| 1940 | 49,002 | 50.71% | 47,022 | 48.67% | 599 | 0.62% |
| 1944 | 59,627 | 51.49% | 55,272 | 47.73% | 914 | 0.79% |
| 1948 | 62,516 | 53.49% | 51,491 | 44.06% | 2,859 | 2.45% |
| 1952 | 115,503 | 60.73% | 73,871 | 38.84% | 805 | 0.42% |
| 1956 | 152,990 | 60.37% | 99,901 | 39.42% | 527 | 0.21% |
| 1960 | 162,026 | 54.27% | 135,531 | 45.39% | 1,005 | 0.34% |
| 1964 | 114,025 | 38.33% | 182,797 | 61.44% | 686 | 0.23% |
| 1968 | 156,538 | 45.31% | 154,630 | 44.76% | 34,290 | 9.93% |
| 1972 | 241,613 | 63.78% | 129,400 | 34.16% | 7,838 | 2.07% |
| 1976 | 244,271 | 58.69% | 164,266 | 39.47% | 7,668 | 1.84% |
| 1980 | 253,211 | 54.65% | 164,869 | 35.58% | 45,248 | 9.77% |
| 1984 | 306,050 | 66.71% | 150,286 | 32.76% | 2,464 | 0.54% |
| 1988 | 283,359 | 61.27% | 174,745 | 37.78% | 4,384 | 0.95% |
| 1992 | 242,160 | 43.57% | 214,733 | 38.64% | 98,867 | 17.79% |
| 1996 | 219,855 | 43.48% | 241,884 | 47.84% | 43,903 | 8.68% |
| 2000 | 274,319 | 48.10% | 281,201 | 49.31% | 14,745 | 2.59% |
| 2004 | 316,633 | 49.32% | 319,387 | 49.75% | 5,957 | 0.93% |
| 2008 | 276,956 | 41.94% | 372,566 | 56.42% | 10,873 | 1.65% |
| 2012 | 296,514 | 45.37% | 349,002 | 53.40% | 8,055 | 1.23% |
| 2016 | 289,203 | 43.23% | 343,070 | 51.29% | 36,652 | 5.48% |
| 2020 | 325,971 | 42.22% | 434,148 | 56.24% | 11,872 | 1.54% |
| 2024 | 337,791 | 43.65% | 419,519 | 54.21% | 16,603 | 2.15% |
Oakland County was historically a bastion of suburban conservatism, and was hence a longstanding stronghold of theRepublican Party. In the 1990s it became highly competitive, and since 2008 it has shifted toward theDemocratic Party, giving over 50% of its votes to the Democratic candidate for president in each election since.
In1996,Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to carry Oakland County sinceLyndon Johnson in1964, and only the fourth to do so since 1892. In2008, the county swung significantly toBarack Obama, who became the first Democrat to win over 50% of its votes since Johnson. In2020,Joe Biden won 56% of the vote, becoming the first Democrat to carry the county by a margin of over 100,000 votes.
Republican strength is concentrated in the many exurban townships of the county, while Democratic strength is concentrated in suburbs such as Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, West Bloomfield, and Southfield. Some suburbs, such as Novi, Troy, Birmingham, and Rochester, were historically strongly Republican but are now relatively split between the two parties, with younger adults tending to support Democrats and older residents tending to support Republicans.
While the Democratic Party has found increasing success in presidential elections in Oakland County, the state Republican Party has remained strong in some recent gubernatorial and state elections. The county favored RepublicanRick Snyder by a 22-point margin in the2010 Michigan gubernatorial election and again by a 12-point margin in the2014 election; conversely, the county favored Democratic candidateGretchen Whitmer by a 17-point margin in the2018 election and again by a 23-point margin in the2022 election. Republicans held a majority on the County Commission for most of its history, but following the 2018 elections, Democrats won a narrow 11–10 majority on the commission.[37]
In the119th Congress, Oakland County is represented by three Democrats:Debbie Dingell (6th),Haley Stevens (11th), andRashida Tlaib (12th) and three Republicans:Tom Barrett (7th),John James (10th) andLisa McClain (9th).
The following airports are located in neighboring counties:
I-75 (Walter P. Chrysler Freeway) is the main north–south highway in the region, serving Flint, Pontiac, Troy, and Detroit, before continuing south (as the Fisher and Detroit-Toledo Freeways) to serve many of the communities along the shore ofLake Erie.
I-96 runs northwest–southeast through Oakland County and (as the Jeffries Freeway) has its eastern terminus in downtown Detroit.
I-275 runs north–south from I-75 in the south to the junction of I-96 and I-696 in the north, providing a bypass through the western suburbs of Detroit.
I-696 (Walter P. Reuther Freeway) runs east–west from the junction of I-96 and I-275, providing a route through the northern suburbs of Detroit. Taken together, I-275 and I-696 form a semicircle around Detroit.
US 24 ends just outside of Clarkston at I-75. To the south, US 24 serves suburban Detroit andMonroe before enteringOhio. Much of US 24 in Oakland County is named Telegraph Road, and it is a major north–south road extending fromToledo, Ohio, through Monroe, Wayne, and Oakland Counties toPontiac. It gained notoriety in a song (Telegraph Road) by the groupDire Straits.
M-1 (Woodward Avenue) has a northern terminus in Pontiac. The route continues southerly from Oakland County into the City of Detroit, ending downtown. The Detroit Zoo is located along M-1 in Oakland County. M-1 is also home to theWoodward Dream Cruise, a classic-car cruise from Pontiac toFerndale that is held in August. It is the largest single-day classic-car cruise in America.
M-5 (Haggerty Connector) provides expressway access from Commerce and West Bloomfield Townships at Pontiac Trail to the I-96/I-275/I-696 interchange, then follows the Farmington bypass to Grand River Avenue west of Middlebelt Road, continuing along Grand River into downtown Detroit.
M-10 (John C. Lodge Freeway) runs largely parallel to I-75 from Southfield to downtown Detroit. The service drives are named Northwestern Highway.
M-15 (Ortonville Road, Main Street in Clarkston)
M-24 (Lapeer Road) has a southern terminus at I-75 northeast of Pontiac. To the north, the route continues toLapeer and beyond. Note: M-24 and US 24 do not intersect at present, although this was the case until the 1950s.
M-39 (Southfield Freeway) runs north–south from I-94 in Allen Park to Southfield. North of Nine Mile Road, the freeway ends and continues as Southfield Road into Birmingham.
M-59 (Highland Road [from Pontiac westerly], Huron Street [within Pontiac] and Veterans Memorial Freeway [Pontiac toUtica]), continues east in Macomb County as Hall Road toClinton Township and west to I-96 nearHowell
M-102 Perhaps better known as 8 Mile Road, M-102 follows the Oakland–Wayne county line for most of its length. 8 Mile Road, known by many due to the film8 Mile, forms the dividing line between Detroit on the south and the suburbs of Macomb and Oakland counties on the north. It is also known as Baseline Road outside of Detroit, because it coincides with thebaseline used in surveying Michigan; that baseline is also the boundary for a number of Michigan counties. It is designated M-102 for much of its length in Wayne County.
M-150 (Rochester Road) serves as a spur highway from M-59 into the city of Rochester.Amtrak's thrice-dailyWolverine serves Oakland County, with stations inPontiac,Troy, andRoyal Oak, before continuing on to Detroit and west toChicago.
Surface-street navigation in metro Detroit is commonly anchored by "mile roads", major east–west surface streets that are spaced at one-mile (1.6 km) intervals and increment as one travels north and away from the city center. Mile roads sometimes have two names, the numeric name (e.g., 15 Mile Road), used in Macomb County, and a local name (e.g., Maple Road), used in Oakland County (for the most part).
The conditions on most non-residential roads in Oakland County are not favorable to bicycling. Exceptions to this are primarily in the inner-ring suburbs within the southeast corner of the county. This is due to theirstreet grid.
A primary reason for these unfavorable cycling conditions is the Road Commission for Oakland County has a policy of not accommodating bicycles on the road. As a result, some communities have designatedsidepaths (locally called "safety paths") as bike routes which do not meet theAmerican Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) guidelines for bicycling facilities and have been found to be less safe than on-road bike facilities.[38]
As a result, there are no designatedBicycle Friendly Communities within Oakland County.
Only the city ofFerndale has a built comprehensive bicycle network ofbike lanes and signed shared roadways.
The County of Oakland counterpart in public education (K–12) is theOakland Schools, anIntermediate school district. The county is also home to multiple renowned private elementary and high schools, includingThe Roeper School andCranbrook.
School districts:[39]
| Club | League | Venue | Established | Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland County FC | Premier League of America, Soccer | Clawson Park Stadium | 2015 |
The NFL'sDetroit Lions played their home games at thePontiac Silverdome in Pontiac from 1975 through 2001, when they moved toFord Field in Downtown Detroit. TheDetroit Pistons played at the Silverdome from 1978 to 1988. The Silverdome was also the site ofSuper Bowl XVI, where theSan Francisco 49ers defeated theCincinnati Bengals, the first of 5 Super Bowl titles for the 49ers. The Pontiac Silverdome also hosted various other sporting events, prior to being demolished in 2017.
From 1988 to 2017, prior to the move toLittle Caesars Arena in Detroit, theDetroit Pistons played their home games atThe Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills. The Palace of Auburn Hills was demolished in 2020.[40]
Oakland County contains 387 lakes, and four major rivers run through the county:[41]
The headwaters of each of these rivers lie in Oakland County.
Places adjacent to Oakland County, Michigan | |
|---|---|
| Topics | .jpg) | |
|---|---|---|
| Detroit | ||
| Municipalities over 80,000 | ||
| Municipalities 40,000 to 80,000 | ||
| Cultural enclaves | ||
| Satellite cities | ||
| Counties in MSA | ||
| Counties in CSA | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
