County Populations of Northern Michigan

In my map above, the populations of 30 counties in the northern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula ("The Mitten") are mapped. 26 out of the 30 counties have populations less than 50,000. Along the coast of Saginaw Bay, Bay County has the highest population within the mapped region. According to the United States Census Bureau, the source for population data featured in Google's Public Data Explorer service, the population of Bay County is more than 100,000. With more than 8,600 residents, Oscoda County has the lowest population in the region. Listed below are the top five counties featured in the map above with the lowest and highest populations. Most of the population data is from July 2011.

5 Highest Populations
1. Bay County - 107,110
2. Grand Traverse County - 88,349
3. Midland County - 84,063
4. Isabella County - 70,622
5. Emmet County - 32,848

5 Lowest Populations
1. Oscoda County - 8,608
2. Montmorency County - 9,653
3. Alcona County - 10,800
4. Lake County - 11,539
5. Presque Isle County - 13,155

This is the Google Public Data dataset that I used for making this map.