Aviva Directory » Local & Global » North America » United States » States » Michigan » Counties & Townships

The focus of this guide is on Michigan counties and townships.

In Michigan, urban settlements are governed as cities or villages, as Michigan has no towns, while the governments covering rural areas are generally known as counties and townships.

Michigan has eighty-three counties, the boundaries of which have not changed substantially since 1897, although they were frequently adjusted before that time. Counties might contain multiple cities, charter townships, civil townships, villages, unincorporated communities, and census-designated places. Some cities span multiple counties.

Ninety-six percent of Michigan's land area outside of cities is governed by townships. In Michigan, if you don't live in a city, you live in a township. Currently, Michigan has 1,240 townships, although townships are occasionally incorporated as cities or absorbed by cities.

Townships and Counties are statutory units of government, afforded only those powers expressly provided or reasonably implied by state law, while cities and most villages have home rule powers, which means that they can do almost anything not expressly prohibited by law.

Because of these differences, cities and villages in Michigan are listed in the Cities & Towns category, while counties and townships are in this category. Although Michigan does not have towns, Cities & Towns is a standard category used throughout the Aviva Directory's Local & Global categories.

For the most part, the resources listed in this category, and its subcategories, will include websites representing the county or township governments, while most other resources will be listed in the city or village that is used as its mailing address, given that mail delivered to addresses within a township is often handled by the post office in the nearest city or village, and it could be difficult to determine whether a specific address is within the village limits or outside of it.

The focus of this category is on townships and counties in the state of Michigan.

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