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 where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Kalamazoo is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce 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%). In addition, Kalamazoo is a major college town that has a very high percentage of its residents over 18 years old who are college students. Naturally, collegiate life has a major influence on local Kalamazoo culture, lifestyle and entertainment options. Kalamazoo really pulses to the beat of the academic calendar. In Kalamazoo every fall, returning students reinvigorate the community, who you will notice are all over town, buying groceries, out with friends, and getting acquainted or re-acquainted with each other and Kalamazoo. One of the beneficial effects that colleges provide is that they tend to be lasting institutions that deliver direct economic benefits to the local economy in the form of such things as jobs for faculty and staff, and spending by students. Kalamazoo benefits directly from this. Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Kalamazoo spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 19.08 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.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.
