Think Michigan and you're likely conjure and image of Rust Belt urban areas like Detroit or perhaps the natural beauty of lakeshores and deeply wooded forests. Both types of geography can exemplify Michigan. And if one is looking to really get away from everything there are places like that in Michigan.

In fact there are several counties where there are less than 10,000 people.

👇 SEE ALL THE SPARSELY POPULATED MICHIGAN COUNTIES FURTHER BELOW 👇

Someone did the math and counted all counties in the United States with less than 5000 and less than 10,000 residents. It's stark to see the 'line of isolation' that exists down the county's midsection. In the east, while county sizes are smaller than the west, there are relatively few low population counties.

Low population counties US
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There are 8 such counties in Michigan with 2 in the Lower Peninsula and 5 in the Upper Peninsula.

READ MORE: Northern Michigan Has a Surprising History of Western-Style Dude Ranches

It may be surprising to see neighboring states have fewer lower population counties. There are no counties in Ohio less than 10k residents. Just a scattering in Wisconsin, mostly clustered near the Michigan border. Indiana has very surprisingly few, considering that state has more counties than Michigan.

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Check out Michigan's least populated counties below.

These Tiny Michigan Counties Have Less than 10,000 Residents

These are the counties in Michigan where you can really feel detached from society. Each of these counties have less than 10,000 people living there.
Note: population counts are via Wikipedia and 2023 estimates.

On the other side of the county coin, there are some very large counties in Michigan area-wise. These Michigan counties each have more area the entire state of Rhode Island. And, yes, there are counties on both lists.

Seven Michigan Counties That Are Larger than All of Rhode Island

Each of these Michigan counties has more land area than all of the state of Rhode Island.

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