Van Buren County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the population was 76,263. The county seat is Paw Paw 6 . It is part of the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI MSA.
It was named for Martin Van Buren before he became president. Van Buren was U.S. Secretary of State and later Vice President under President Andrew Jackson, making it one of Michigan's "Cabinet counties".
Much of the county is farmland dotted with small towns. Areas near Kalamazoo County are becoming suburbanized. Many of the inland lakes are ringed with homes, either by people living year-round or cottagers, generally people who live the rest of the time in Chicago. Tourism is a major industry in the areas near Lake Michigan.
