Locally known as St. Joe, the City of Saint Joseph, Michigan is the county seat of Berrien County, in the southwestern portion of the Lower Peninsula.

Saint Joseph is situated at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, where it feeds into Lake Michigan. The St. Joseph River forms its eastern boundary, while Lake Michigan forms its western border. In the north, the city extends north of the river, between M-63 and Lake Michigan, as far as Jean Klock Park. A branch in the St. Joseph River forms Marina Island, which is accessible by a bridge along Wayne Street.

The city of Benton Harbor abuts St. Joseph to the east and north, while the village of Shoreham abuts it to the south.

The chief routes through the city are Bus-94 (Lakeshore Drive, Main Street, Wayne Street), M-63 (Niles Road, Niles Avenue), and Cleveland Avenue.

Besides Benton Harbor and Shoreham, other cities and villages within twenty-five miles of St. Joseph include Stevensville, Baroda, Coloma, Bridgman, Watervliet, Berrien Springs, Eau Claire, Hartford, Three Oaks, Dowagiac, Buchanan, and South Haven, while the unincorporated communities of Fair Plain, Benton Heights, Glenlord, Hollywood, Millburg, Sodus, Buckhorn, and Arden are within ten miles.

The Saint Joseph Railway Station is served daily by Amtrak's Pere Marquette passenger train.

The mouth of the St. Joseph River lies along a busy Native American water route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Both the Miami and the Potawatomi used this route and camped in the area. The St. Joseph River also provided a connection with the Sauk Trail, a major land trail through Michigan.

In 1669, the French explorer, Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, camped at the mouth of the river while waiting for the ship, Le Griffon, which never returned. In order to keep his men occupied during the wait, he had them build Fort Miami, although it was abandoned after a month when he moved southward, making the first land crossing of the Lower Peninsula by Europeans.

Around 1780, William Burnett became the first permanent settler when he opened a trading post at the mouth of the river. He traded food, furs, and other goods. By 1827, the settlement that grew up there was known as Saranac, after a Great Lakes ship.

In 1829, Calvin Britain came to the settlement, and, in 1831, he platted a village that he named Newburyport. Britain also promoted the area to settlers, to who he sold lots. He became the first postmaster of the village when a post office was established there in March of 1829. On July 24, 1832, the post office's name was changed to Saint Joseph. The following year, the state legislature changed the name of the village to Saint Joseph, for the river, and it was incorporated as a village in 1834 and became a city in 1891.

As the community grew in its importance as a port, the mouth of the river was straightened through a channel, and piers were added. The first lighthouse built in Saint Joseph was constructed around the same time as the original Chicago lighthouse, contending as the first to be built on Lake Michigan.

The first water route across Lake Michigan between St. Joseph and Chicago began as a mail route in 1825, although service was sporadic until Samuel and Eber Ward began providing a steady service in 1842, which operated for eleven years.

With the increase in shipping from Benton Harbor and the rise of tourism in St. Joseph, more permanent and larger operations began in the ports. The Coast Guard still maintains a station in St. Joseph. The United States Lifesaving Service built a Lifesaving Station at St. Joseph in 1876.

After a bitter fight for the county seat between Benton Harbor, Saint Joseph, and Niles, the seat moved from Berrien Springs to St. Joseph in 1894.

The city claims a place in aviation history when Augustus Moore Herring took one of his gliders, fitted with a motor, to Silver Beach in St. Joseph on October 11, 1898. He was able to lift off the ground and fly for seven seconds. Eleven days later, he made a ten-second flight. However, it was left to the Wright Brothers to perfect controlled flight five years later.

In 1870, the Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad extended its line from New Buffalo to Saint Joseph, connecting the village with Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Detroit, and Chicago. The line was reorganized as the Chicago and West Michigan Railway, and later incorporated as the Pere Marquette Railroad.

The peak population of Saint Joseph was 11,755 in 1960, but it has declined each decade since. In 2020, there were 7,856 people residing in the city.

This part of our guide focuses on Saint Joseph, Michigan. Topics related to the city or county governments, as well as local businesses, industries, schools, churches, organizations, attractions, or events are appropriate for this category.

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