Southeast Michigan, also called southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are concentrated in Metro Detroit.

Geography

It is bordered in the northeast by

Lake St. Clair Lake St. Clair (french: Lac Sainte-Claire) is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi, on whose feast day ...

, to the south-east Lake Erie, and the Detroit River which connects these two lakes.

Principal cities

*Detroit, the state's largest city (and the nation's eighteenth-largest) and the county seat of Wayne County. *

Mount Clemens Mount Clemens is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 16,314 at the 2010 census. It is the seat of government of Macomb County. History Mount Clemens was first surveyed in 1795 after the American Revolutionary War by Christia ...

, the county seat of Macomb County. * Pontiac, the county seat of

Oakland County Oakland County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the Metro Detroit, metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 Census, its population was 1, ...

Other important cities within the core counties of Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne

* Birmingham *

Dearborn Dearborn may refer to: People * Dearborn (surname) ** Henry Dearborn (1751–1829), U.S. Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson, Senior Officer of the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 Places in the United States Forts * Fort Dearborn, ...

* Livonia * Novi *

Romulus Romulus () was the legendary foundation of Rome, founder and King of Rome, first king of Ancient Rome, Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus ...

, home to Detroit Metro Airport *

Royal Oak The Royal Oak is the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. C ...

* Southfield * Sterling Heights, the fourth-largest city (by population) in Michigan. * Troy *

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

, third-largest city (by population) in Michigan, location of General Motors Technical Center, the United States Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), the National Automotive Center (NAC). *

West Bloomfield Township West Bloomfield Township, officially the Charter Township of West Bloomfield, is a charter township in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan, within the Detroit metropolitan area. It is one of the most expensive places to live in Oakland ...

Outlying cities

Some cities are considered within southeast Michigan, while also being a part of another region or metropolitan area. The following cities tend to identify themselves separately from southeast Michigan and are isolated from the core counties of Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne. * Adrian, county seat of Lenawee County and home of Adrian College, Siena Heights University. *

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

, county seat of

Washtenaw County Washtenaw County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the population was 372,258. The county seat is Ann Arbor. The county was authorized by legislation in 1822 and organized as a county in 1826. Washtenaw ...

and home of the University of Michigan's main campus. * Hillsdale, county seat of Hillsdale County located between the southeast and southwest corners of the state. * Howell, county seat of Livingston County located between Metro Detroit and the Greater Lansing areas. * Jackson, county seat of Jackson County also considered to be a part of

Greater Lansing Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality * ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record * "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014 *Greater Bank, an Australian ...

. * Monroe, county seat of

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

. * Port Huron, county seat of St. Clair County, also considered to be part of the Thumb. *

Saline Saline may refer to: * Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body * Saline water, non-medicinal salt water * Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern Places * Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...

, a community in

. * Ypsilanti, a community in

, and home to Eastern Michigan University's main campus.

Metropolitan area

With 4,488,335 people in 2010, Metro Detroit was the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the United States, while Ann Arbor's metropolitan area ranked 141st with 341,847. Metropolitan areas of southeast Michigan, and parts of the Thumb and Flint/Tri-Cities, are grouped together by the U.S. Census Bureau with Detroit-Warren-Livonia MSA in a wider nine-county region designated the Detroit–Ann Arbor–Flint Combined Statistical Area (CSA) with a population of 5,428,000.

Combined Statistical Area

* Genesee County * Lapeer County * Lenawee County (removed from the CSA in 2001 but relisted in 2013) * Livingston County* * Macomb County* *

* *

* * Saint Clair County* *

* * Wayne County* Denotes member counties of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG)

Economy

The main economic activity is manufacturing cars. Major manufacturing cities are

, Sterling Heights,

(Henry Ford's childhood home) and Detroit, also called "Motor City" or "Motown". Other economic activities include banking and other service industries. Most people in Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne Counties live in urban areas. In the recent years, urban sprawl has affected the areas of

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

, Commerce,

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, and

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

townships. The metropolitan area is also home to some of the highest ranked hospitals and medical centers, Such as the Detroit Medical Center(DMC), Henry Ford Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, and the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor. SEMCOG Commuter Rail is a proposed regional rail link between Ann Arbor and Detroit. The Detroit Metro Airport is the busiest in the area with the opening of the McNamara terminal and the now completed North Terminal. The airport is located in

. Manufacturing and service industries have replaced agriculture for the most part. In rural areas of Saint Clair County, Monroe, and

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

Counties still grow crops such as

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

sugar beets Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double s ...

soy beans The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...

, other types of beans, and fruits. Romeo and northern Macomb County is well known for its apple and peach orchards.

Media

Radio Most major Detroit radio stations, such as

WJR WJR (760 AM) is a commercial radio station in Detroit, Michigan, owned by Cumulus Media, with a news/talk format. Most of WJR's broadcast studios, along with its newsroom and offices, are in the Fisher Building in Detroit's New Center area. A ...

and WWJ, can be heard in most or all of southeastern Michigan. Port Huron, Howell, Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti, Adrian, and Monroe are also served by their own locally-originating stations. National Public Radio is broadcast locally from Ann Arbor on

Michigan Radio Michigan Radio is a radio network, network of five FM broadcasting, FM public radio stations operated by the University of Michigan through its broadcasting arm, Michigan Public Media. The network is a founding member of National Public Radio and ...

WUOM 91.7 FM and from Detroit on

WDET-FM WDET-FM (101.9 MHz) is a public radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Broadcasting from Wayne State University in the city's Cass Corridor neighborhood, about a mile south of the New Center neighborhood, WDET broadcasts original programming and ...

101.9 FM. Television Major television stations include: WJBK Fox 2 Detroit (

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

), WXYZ Channel 7 (

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

), WDIV Local 4 ( NBC), WWJ-TV CBS 62 ( CBS) and

WKBD WKBD-TV (channel 50) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS owned-and-operated station WWJ-TV (channel 62). Both stations share studios on ...

CW 50 ( CW). Newspaper Daily editions of the '' Detroit Free Press'' and '' The Detroit News'' are available throughout the area.

External links

Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, Bibliography on Michigan (arranged by counties and regions)

Info Michigan, detailed information on 630 cities

Michigan Department of Natural Resources website, harbors, hunting, resources and more.

Michigan's Official Economic Development and Travel Site, including interactive map, information on attractions, museums, etc.

Southeast Michigan Council of Governments
{{Michigan Regions of Michigan