MI · Great Lakes State · Midwest · admitted 1837 (#26)
Michigan map
Michigan highlighted on the US map, with its capital Lansing and largest city Detroit. It is two peninsulas joined by the Mackinac Bridge, with more freshwater shoreline than any other state.
- Capital
- Lansing
- Largest city
- Detroit
- Population (2020)
- 10,077,331
- Area
- 96,714 sq mi
- Counties
- 83
- Time zone
- Eastern
- Region
- Midwest · East North Central
- Statehood
- January 26, 1837
Where Michigan is
Michigan is in the upper Midwest, surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes. The mitten-shaped Lower Peninsula is bounded by Lake Michigan on the west and Lakes Huron, St. Clair and Erie on the east; the Upper Peninsula lies across the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. End to end the state spans about 455 miles north to south and 385 miles east to west. Ohio and Indiana lie to the south of the Lower Peninsula, Wisconsin to the southwest of the Upper Peninsula, and Ontario, Canada, across the Detroit and St. Marys rivers. Detroit is in the southeast; Lansing is in the centre of the Lower Peninsula.
Major cities
| City | Region of state | Population (2020) |
|---|---|---|
| Detroit | Southeast Michigan | 639,111 |
| Grand Rapids | West Michigan | 198,917 |
| Warren | Metro Detroit | 139,387 |
| Sterling Heights | Metro Detroit | 134,346 |
| Ann Arbor | Southeast Michigan | 123,851 |
| Lansing (capital) | Mid-Michigan | 112,644 |
| Dearborn | Metro Detroit | 109,976 |
| Flint | Mid-Michigan (east) | 81,252 |
Geography
- Mount Arvon — 1,979 feet, the highest point, in the Huron Mountains of the Upper Peninsula near Lake Superior.
- Great Lakes shoreline — about 3,290 miles on Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie, the longest freshwater coastline in the world. See the Great Lakes map.
- Mackinac Bridge — five miles long, joining the two peninsulas across the Straits of Mackinac since 1957.
- Grand, Saginaw, Kalamazoo and Muskegon rivers — the main rivers of the Lower Peninsula; the Grand, at 252 miles, is the longest in the state.
- Inland lakes — about 11,000 of them; Houghton Lake is the largest, and Isle Royale in Lake Superior is a national park. See US lakes.
- Lowest point — 571 feet, the surface of Lake Erie in the southeast corner; the Porcupine Mountains and Pictured Rocks lie along the Superior shore.
- Time zones — almost all of Michigan is on Eastern time; the four Upper Peninsula counties on the Wisconsin line (Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson and Menominee) are on Central time.
Borders
Michigan has only three short land borders and long water borders. The Ohio line was fought over in the bloodless 1835 Toledo War: Michigan lost the Toledo strip and was given the Upper Peninsula in compensation when it became a state in 1837. The Indiana line is a survey 10 miles north of Lake Michigan's southern tip. The Wisconsin border follows the Menominee, Brule and Montreal rivers with a surveyed link between them. The rest is water: mid-lake lines through Lakes Superior, Huron and Erie with Ontario, and through Lake Michigan with Wisconsin and Illinois; Minnesota meets Michigan only in Lake Superior.
Regions of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula (Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie, the Keweenaw), Northern Michigan (Traverse City, Petoskey, Mackinaw City), West Michigan (Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon), Mid-Michigan (Lansing, Flint, Saginaw), the Thumb (the peninsula between Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron) and Southeast Michigan or Metro Detroit (Detroit, Ann Arbor, the Oakland and Macomb suburbs).
Related maps
- Michigan county map — all 83 counties with seats.
- Blank Michigan map — outline for printing.
- Printable Michigan map.
- Lansing — why the capital moved from Detroit to Lansing in 1847.
- Neighbors: Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin; across the lakes Illinois and Minnesota.
- Region: Midwest · East North Central · Great Lakes.
- Time zones: Eastern and Central (four UP counties).
- Geography: Great Lakes, US lakes, National parks.