Because Kalamazoo has a very large number of students who are 18 years or older and in college, it is thought of as a college town. This has a major influence on local Kalamazoo lifestyle, entertainment, and culture in general. Life in Kalamazoo is very much tied to the academic calendar: when students return from the summer break in the fall, one will notice them out and about, buying groceries, out with friends, and generally getting re-acquainted with each other. In Kalamazoo people study hard and play hard, and there is ample opportunity to do both.
Not only is Kalamazoo a city with many college students, but it also retains many recent graduates who are looking to start new careers, creating a very large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile. That’s because Kalamazoo is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Kalamazoo a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.
Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 19.08 minutes getting to work every day.
The education level of Kalamazoo citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 37.19% of adults in Kalamazoo have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.
The per capita income in Kalamazoo in 2018 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.
