The Traverse City Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, is an area consisting of four counties in Northern

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, anchored by the city of Traverse City. This area is commonly referred to as Northwestern Michigan or the Traverse Bay Area, after

Grand Traverse Bay Grand Traverse Bay ( ) is an arm of Lake Michigan, located along the west coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The bay is separated from the rest of Lake Michigan by the Leelanau Peninsula. The bay is some long, ranges from wide, and up ...

. The area consists of the counties of Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau. As of the 2020 census, the Traverse City metropolitan area had a population of 153,448. Nearly one in three residents of Northern Michigan (with a population of 506,658 in 2020) reside within the Traverse City metropolitan area. Grand Traverse County holds about 62% of the population of the metropolitan area, with a population of 95,238 in 2020. The area was first designated as a micropolitan statistical area in 2003, then promoted to metropolitan statistical area status in 2023. In 2020, the Traverse City micropolitan area was the sixth-largest by population in the United States.

Communities

Cities

Villages

Townships

Unincorporated places

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 131,342 people, 51,760 households, and 36,176 families residing within the metropolitan area. The racial makeup of the metropolitan area was 96.15%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.33%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.43% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.60% from other races, and 1.09% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.69% of the population. The median income for a household in the metropolitan area was $40,913, and the median income for a family was $46,772. Males had a median income of $33,148 versus $23,026 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the metropolitan area was $20,408. The largest municipality within the metropolitan area is Garfield Township in Grand Traverse County, with a population of 19,499 at the 2020 census. Garfield Township, as well as neighboring East Bay Township and the city of Traverse City itself, are the only municipalities within the metropolitan area with a population greater than 10,000. The largest village in the metropolitan area is Kalkaska.

Transportation

Air service

The Traverse City metropolitan area is served by one regional airport,

Cherry Capital Airport Cherry Capital Airport is a Commercial aviation, commercial and general aviation airport located in Traverse City, Michigan, United States. The airport is located southeast of the central business district of Traverse City. The airport is FAA ...

, located in Grand Traverse County. Other smaller, local airports within the area include: * Empire Airport * Frankfort Dow Memorial Field * Green Lake Airport * Kalkaska City Airport * Woolsey Memorial Airport * Yuba Airport

Major highways

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Public transit

The Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) is a public transit agency serving Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties. The Kalkaska Public Transport Authority (KAT) operates public transit service in Kalkaska County, and the Benzie Bus operates public transit service between Benzie County and Traverse City.

References

{{Michigan Traverse City metropolitan area Metropolitan areas of Michigan Northern Michigan Geography of Benzie County, Michigan Geography of Grand Traverse County, Michigan Geography of Kalkaska County, Michigan Geography of Leelanau County, Michigan