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Kalamazoo County, MI — Hotels Saturation

How many hotels exist per person present — residents plus daytime workers — by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Establishment data: Census ZBP 2023. Population: ACS 2024 5-year. 22 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Hotels · Motels · Motor inns. Counted together because official statistics use one 721110 code.

Measured density: Range spans bands — 0.74× the U.S. rate (between 0.74× and 1.34× once withheld ZIP cells are counted)

Why a range: Census does not publish a ZIP-by-industry count when that ZIP has 0–2 businesses. 18 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 13 of them with residents. Each could hold 0, 1, or 2 businesses: counting them all as 0 gives the low end, counting them all as 2 gives the high end — the data cannot say where the truth sits. The density range uses only the populated cells, since ZIPs without residents are excluded from per-person rates. How ranges work

Range spans the U.S. rate   Kalamazoo County hotels — 74–134% of the U.S. rate

32 hotels are counted in Kalamazoo County — 1.0 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 74% of the U.S. rate of 1.4.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has fallen 3% between 2015 and 2023 (30 → 29). That set is smaller than today's county total. 2020–2021 were pandemic-distorted, and Census rounds counts, so small moves are within noise.

Measured supply density is highest in 49001 (Kalamazoo), 49002 (Portage), 49007 (Kalamazoo) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 49009 (Kalamazoo), 49007 (Kalamazoo), 49002 (Portage).

Census County Business Patterns (2023) puts the county-wide count at 38 establishments, including locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA — so it can run slightly above the sum of the ZIP rows on this page. It is annual, so it lags more than QCEW.

Measured density: Kalamazoo County sits at 74% of the U.S. rate for hotels. 13 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 74% and 134% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 49001 and 49002; the lowest measured density is in 49009 and 49007.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing hotels and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more. Treat low density as a question to check, not an answer.

Hotels
32–68
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (18 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
1.0
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
1.4
per 10,000 present
County index
0.74×
vs. U.S.
Latest year (CBP)
38
2023 — $30M annual payroll
Residents
256,879
17 ZIPs with data
Workers
112,688
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
264,780
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
+1.1%
+2,966 people
Net migration 2024
+1,277
international +1,953, domestic −676
Jobs located here
120,525
LODES 2021, −6.9% since 2019

Kalamazoo County had an estimated 264,780 residents on July 1, 2024 — 1.1% more than in 2020 (+2,966). In the latest year it gained 1,483 people: births minus deaths +195, international migration +1,953, domestic migration −676. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

120,525 jobs were located in the county in 2021 (−6.9% since 2019), and 110,971 employed residents lived there (−6.0% since 2019). LODES counts wage and salary jobs covered by unemployment insurance plus federal jobs; it excludes the self-employed and military, and counts jobs rather than unique people. 2019→2021 spans the pandemic, so read it as one change, not a trend. The 2022 file for this state is not usable, so 2021 is the latest year shown.

Population and migration say whether the customer base is growing. They do not say whether people want another business of this type. Definitions and limits →  ·  Full county detail →

ZIP gaining residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
49009 Kalamazoo
+6.0%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
49048 Kalamazoo
−10.3%

ACS 5-year estimates for 2015–2019 and 2020–2024. Only ZIPs with at least 2,000 residents in both windows and a change larger than the survey margin of error (90%) are listed — small ZIPs move a lot on paper without a real signal.

Nonemployer businesses

Not shown. Census publishes hotels only combined with other traveler accommodation (NAICS 7211), so a hotels-and-motels-only nonemployer count is not published.

Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024 (NAICS 2022). We do not approximate this figure.

Saturation map

Each ZIP area is shaded by its density of this business type per person present (residents + workers) vs. the U.S. average. Click any ZIP to zoom to its boundary, see its numbers, and switch to aerial imagery. Individual mapped shops appear as dots at street level — Show locations zooms you in to them (scroll or double-click to zoom).

Basemap:
Under 50% 50–100% 100–150% 150–250% 250%+ 0–2 (not published) / no data ZIP total (dot size) Mapped shop (OpenStreetMap, street level)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.

White dots are ZIP totals from the official Census count — the bigger the dot, the more hotels in that ZIP. They are aggregated, not individual shops. Turquoise dots are individual locations mapped in OpenStreetMap, shown only at street level; they are crowd-sourced and indicative, may be incomplete, and do not equal the official counts. Only the official ZIP totals feed the saturation index.

Market trend — down 3% since 2015

Number of hotels in Kalamazoo County across 2015–2023, on a consistent set of ZIP codes present in every year — so changes are real, not ZIP-boundary artifacts. 2015/2018 are pre-pandemic baselines; 2020/2021 are COVID-distorted.

30
2015
31
2018
28
2020
31
2021
29
2022
29
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
49001 Kalamazoo
316%
49002 Portage
170%
49007 Kalamazoo
117%
49009 Kalamazoo
116%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
49009 Kalamazoo
116%
49007 Kalamazoo
117%
49002 Portage
170%
49001 Kalamazoo
316%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few hotels may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. We rank only residential and mixed ZIPs here; employment hubs and visitor destinations are listed separately below. ZIPs where Census did not publish a count (0–2 businesses) are not ranked: they may be the least served of all, but the data cannot tell 0 from 1 or 2. Verify those locally.

All ZIP codes

Click a column header to sort. Index = hotels per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersHotels Per 10kIndexStatus
49001Kalamazoo 20,94617,658 13 4.4 316% Very high density
49002Portage 19,73720,231 7 2.3 170% High density
49007Kalamazoo 9,83617,568 3 1.6 117% Above average
49009Kalamazoo 47,97116,048 9 1.6 116% Above average
49003Kalamazoo —315 0–2 — — Not published
49004Kalamazoo 17,8151,782 0–2 — — Not published
49005Kalamazoo —393 0–2 — — Not published
49006Kalamazoo 26,5074,359 0–2 — — Not published
49008Kalamazoo 16,1376,804 0–2 — — Not published
49012Augusta 3,219644 0–2 — — Not published
49024Portage 30,8239,094 0–2 — — Not published
49034Climax 1,93884 0–2 — — Not published
49041Comstock —33 0–2 — — Not published
49048Kalamazoo 22,7919,119 0–2 — — Not published
49052Fulton 1,23430 0–2 — — Not published
49053Galesburg 7,8054,097 0–2 — — Not published
49077Oshtemo —19 0–2 — — Not published
49081Portage —338 0–2 — — Not published
49083Richland 8,2541,576 0–2 — — Not published
49087Schoolcraft 6,3051,404 0–2 — — Not published
49088Scotts 3,807141 0–2 — — Not published
49097Vicksburg 11,7542,049 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Portage

The numbers above tell you how the market looks. To find a specific storefront, these marketplaces list available retail space for lease.

LoopNet
Largest commercial marketplace
Browse Portage retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Portage retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Portage retail space →

Open vacancy data (actual empty units) is only published by some cities; where it exists we show it directly. Listings above are third-party.

Census withholds some ZIP-by-industry cells to protect small businesses. 0–2 means the cell was not published (Census publishes industry counts only at 3+ per ZIP), so the ZIP is left unranked rather than counted as zero. ~ means the count is estimated from the broader industry group and can be off by a business or two.

Follow Kalamazoo County and hotels

When a data vintage changes or a section of this report is revised, we post it to a public update feed. No email address, no account, no tracking — and nothing is sent unless something actually changed.

Subscribe to updates (RSS) How these numbers are built →

Methodology & sources

Establishments. U.S. Census ZIP Code Business Patterns (ZBP 2023), NAICS 721110 — hotels (except casino hotels) and motels. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. This industry has no clean QCEW series, so the freshest county signal is Census County Business Patterns 2023: 38 establishments and $30M in annual payroll county-wide. This count includes locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA, so it can be slightly higher than the sum of the ZIP rows. CBP is annual and slower than QCEW. It cannot be broken down by ZIP.

Population. U.S. Census American Community Survey 2024 5-year ZCTA population (table B01003). Workers are the ZIP's total employment from the same 2023 ZBP file.

Demand ("people present"). Demand comes from residents and daytime workers: residents + 0.5 × workers. This is the single documented assumption in the model and can be tuned.

Index. index = (ZIP establishments ÷ ZIP demand × 10,000) ÷ the U.S. average for this industry (1.38 per 10,000 present). It is a supply-side density measure; it does not capture income, rent, tourism, or whether locals actually want more.

Read the full methodology →  ·  Data sources & vintages →

BizGapMap — free, no-login small-business saturation reports for major U.S. counties. Built entirely from public U.S. Census, BLS, and IRS data (ZBP 2023, ACS 2024 5-year, PEP 2024, LODES, QCEW, IRS SOI). No forecasts, no revenue guesses — withheld cells are marked, and the few derived counts are labelled as estimates.