Last updated: 22:31, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
This draft article is becoming far too large to organize and edit, so I will ultimately divide it up into three (or four) different regional articles. However, I will continue to update this page if necessary. The sub-articles will have one main article, Unincorporated communities in Michigan, which is being drafted here: User talk:Notorious4life/sandbox.
Upper Peninsula counties will not be updated on this page, see User:Notorious4life/Pending article3. (completed 27 May 2024)
Metro Detroit counties will not be updated on this page, see User:Notorious4life/Pending_article4.
Northern and Southern Michigan sub-articles have not been started, although some of their information is available here. Depending on the finished size of those two articles, it may be merged into a single article.
The following is a list of unincorporated communities in Michigan. The U.S. state of Michigan contains numerous unincorporated communities, which are communities outside of the boundaries and jurisdiction of an incorporated municipality. The state of Michigan contains only two forms of incorporated municipalities: cities and villages.[1]
The state also contains 1,240 townships, which consist of charter townships and civil townships. Townships are the state's only form of unincorporated municipalities.[2] Unincorporated communities can only be located in townships and not within the boundaries of an incorporated village or city. Unincorporated communities lack their own self-governance, as well as having no formal boundaries or population statistics, and they are administered entirely by the township(s) in which they are located.
The state of Michigan contains 212 census-designated places (CDP) according to the 2020 census.[3] By definition, all CDPs are also unincorporated communities, and a defined CDP may also have other unincorporated communities within its boundaries. Being recognized as a CDP does not give the community any legal autonomy reserved for municipalities, as the designation is merely a collection of population statistics within a defined area used by the U.S. Census Bureau.[4] Three unincorporated communities also serve as a county seat—Atlanta, Eagle River, and Mio—although this designation does not give any legal autonomy and is merely the location of the county's seat of government.
With a few noted exceptions[a], all unincorporated communities included in this article are those that have an active Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) identification listing the location as a populated place or census-designated place. Many unincorporated communities have an active U.S. Post Office that may serve a much larger area, while many more communities have had historic post offices. In instances where a community is located along county lines and has portions in more than one county, it might be listed more than once. This article only pertains to present-day communities that are listed by the GNIS and does not include ghost towns, although some unincorporated communities may no longer have a permanent population or any remaining structures. For former communities, see the list of ghost towns in Michigan.
| Bold | Unincorporated communities listed in bold text link to their own respective Wikipedia articles. Listings in regular text redirect back to the township article where it is located. |
(CDP) |
An unincorporated community that is also a census-designated place (CDP) at the 2020 census |
 |
These unincorporated communities contain an active post office and ZIP Code with the same name. |
‡ |
An unincorporated community that spans more than one county and may be listed more than once |
Red |
A listing in red (WP:RED) means the article or redirect has not yet been created. |
- ^ "Organization of City and Village Government in Michigan" (PDF). MML.org. Michigan Municipal League. January 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Michigan Townships Association (2021). "Townships in Michigan". Retrieved December 21, 2022.
- ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2020). "State of Michigan Census Designated Places". Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ^ Census Reporter. "Glossary: Census Designated Place (CDP)". Retrieved December 10, 2021.
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