County facts · Land area · October 21, 2026
Largest Counties in Michigan by Area and Population
The largest Michigan counties by land area and by 2023 population, plus the smallest, county seats and a link to each official parcel map.
Looking for the largest counties in Michigan? Michigan has 83 counties covering about 56,608 square miles of land, based on the Census Bureau's 2020 Gazetteer. The largest by land area is Marquette County, at about 1,809 square miles, roughly 5.7 times the size of the smallest, Benzie County (320 sq mi). Measured by people instead, the largest is Wayne County, with about 1,751,169 residents in the Census Bureau's July 1, 2023 estimate.
The tables below rank the counties both ways. Each row links to the county's Platbookmapper page and straight to its official parcel viewer.
Michigan counties at a glance
- Counties: 83
- Land area: about 56,608 sq mi, plus about 40,105 sq mi of water inside county lines
- Residents, 2023 estimates: about 10,037,261, or about 177 people per square mile of land
- Median county land area: about 568 sq mi
- With a verified public parcel viewer in our directory: 81 of 83
The 10 largest Michigan counties by land area
| # | County | Seat | Land (sq mi) | 2023 pop. | People per sq mi | Parcel viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marquette County | Marquette | 1,809 | 66,999 | 37 | county web map |
| 2 | Chippewa County | Sault Ste. Marie | 1,559 | 36,264 | 23 | county web map |
| 3 | Ontonagon County | Ontonagon | 1,311 | 5,906 | 4.5 | county web map |
| 4 | Schoolcraft County | Manistique | 1,172 | 8,149 | 7.0 | county web map |
| 5 | Delta County | Escanaba | 1,171 | 36,790 | 31 | county web map |
| 6 | Iron County | Crystal Falls | 1,166 | 11,740 | 10 | county web map |
| 7 | Gogebic County | Bessemer | 1,102 | 14,224 | 13 | county web map |
| 8 | Menominee County | Menominee | 1,044 | 22,945 | 22 | county web map |
| 9 | Mackinac County | St. Ignace | 1,022 | 10,851 | 11 | county web map |
| 10 | Houghton County | Houghton | 1,009 | 37,599 | 37 | Beacon (Schneider Geospatial) |
Together these 10 cover about 22% of Michigan's land area and hold about 3% of its residents.
The 10 most populous Michigan counties
| # | County | Seat | 2023 pop. | Land (sq mi) | Parcel viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wayne County | Detroit | 1,751,169 | 612 | ArcGIS Experience Builder |
| 2 | Oakland County | Pontiac | 1,270,426 | 867 | county web map |
| 3 | Macomb County | Mount Clemens | 875,101 | 479 | county web map |
| 4 | Kent County | Grand Rapids | 661,354 | 849 | county web map |
| 5 | Genesee County | Flint | 401,522 | 637 | county web map |
| 6 | Washtenaw County | Ann Arbor | 365,536 | 706 | county web map |
| 7 | Ottawa County | Grand Haven | 303,372 | 564 | county web map |
| 8 | Ingham County | Mason | 284,637 | 556 | county web map |
| 9 | Kalamazoo County | Kalamazoo | 262,215 | 562 | ArcGIS Web AppBuilder |
| 10 | Livingston County | Howell | 196,757 | 565 | listed link under review |
These 10 hold about 63% of Michigan's residents in the 2023 estimates.
The 5 smallest Michigan counties by land area
| County | Seat | Land (sq mi) | 2023 pop. | Parcel viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benzie County | Beulah | 320 | 18,441 | county web map |
| Leelanau County | Suttons Bay | 347 | 23,019 | ArcGIS Web AppBuilder |
| Arenac County | Standish | 363 | 15,145 | ArcGIS Experience Builder |
| Charlevoix County | Charlevoix | 416 | 26,159 | ArcGIS Map Viewer |
| Bay County | Bay City | 442 | 102,500 | county web map |
Most and least crowded
- Most people per square mile: Wayne County, about 2,862 (then Macomb County, 1,826, and Oakland County, 1,465)
- Fewest people per square mile: Keweenaw County, about 4.0 (then Ontonagon County, 4.5, and Schoolcraft County, 7.0)
Counties with the most water
The Census Bureau reports water separately from land. It counts lakes, reservoirs, rivers and, for coastal and Great Lakes counties, the water inside the county boundary.
- Keweenaw County: about 5,426 sq mi of water, 91% of its total area
- Alger County: about 4,133 sq mi of water, 82% of its total area
- Ontonagon County: about 2,429 sq mi of water, 65% of its total area
Using these numbers in a land search
- Land area is not parcel count. A large rural county can hold fewer parcels than a small suburban one, so size alone says little about how busy its parcel map is.
- Search, don't scroll. In a big county, type an address, owner name or parcel number into the viewer's search box, where it has one, instead of panning across the map.
- Records follow the county line. Deeds, plats and tax bills are kept by the county where the parcel sits, so a tract that crosses a county line usually has a parcel number in each county.
- Rounded figures. Land and water areas are rounded to whole square miles. People per square mile is the 2023 estimate divided by land area.
Related guides
- Michigan county GIS websites by viewer
- Michigan plat maps
- Michigan parcel map guide
- Michigan GIS parcel map
- Indiana–Michigan border counties
- Michigan–Wisconsin border counties
More: All Michigan counties on Platbookmapper
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer files, 2020 county land and water area.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, county totals, Vintage 2023 (July 1, 2023 estimates)
- Platbookmapper county GIS directory (live data file behind our county pages, pulled October 21, 2026) for each county's official parcel viewer.
- County seats: Wikidata (county seat property), cross-checked against Census place names.