Kalamazoo is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Michigan. With a population of 72,873 people and 44 associated neighborhoods, Kalamazoo is the 19th largest community in Michigan.Unlike some cities, Kalamazoo isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Kalamazoo are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Kalamazoo is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Kalamazoo who work in food service (12.41%), office and administrative support (10.09%), and sales jobs (9.13%). Kalamazoo is also a major college town with a large number of people who are 18 years or older and attending college. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in Kalamazoo have a strong influence on the local culture and entertainment scene, which may seem dormant by comparison in the summer months when much of the student population is away. In the fall, the return of students has a reinvigorating effect on the community. Because colleges are lasting institutions, they have a stabilizing effect on the economy by providing direct local benefits such as jobs for faculty and staff and spending by students. Kalamazoo’s economy is one such example of this. One of the benefits of Kalamazoo is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 19.08 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.The citizens of Kalamazoo are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 37.19% of adults in Kalamazoo have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Kalamazoo in 2022 was $27,191, which is lower middle income relative to Michigan and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $108,764 for a family of four. However, Kalamazoo contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Kalamazoo is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Kalamazoo home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Kalamazoo residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Kalamazoo include German, English, Irish, Polish, and Dutch. The most common language spoken in Kalamazoo is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
