Michigan Free Public Records Directory

One of the states in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. is Michigan, the 11th largest state in size at 96,716 sq. miles and 83 counties. It is also the largest state in size east of the Mississippi River. Michigan is the only state that consists of two peninsulas and is known as the “Great Lakes State.” It is bounded on the south by the states of Ohio and Indiana, sharing land and water boundaries with both. Michigan’s western boundaries are almost entirely water boundaries from south to north, with Illinois and Wisconsin in Lake Michigan; then a land boundary with Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula, that is principally demarcated by the Menominee and Montreal Rivers; then water boundaries again, in Lake Superior, with Wisconsin and Minnesota to the west, capped around by the Canadian providence to Ontario to the north and east.

Michigan has the longest fresh water coastline of any place in the world. Numerous lakes and marshes mark the coastline including numerous islands. Michigan consists of two peninsulas that are separated by the Straits of Mackinac. The heavily forested Upper Peninsula is relatively mountainous in the west. The Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten and is generally level. The feature that gives it the distinct mitten shape is the thumb, a peninsula that projects out into Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay. There are about 150 lighthouses in Michigan, the most of any U.S. state. It also has the largest state park system of any state.

Michigan’s climate can be divided into two distinct regions. The southern and central parts of the Lower Peninsula have a warmer climate with hot summers and cold winters. The Upper Peninsula and northern part of the Lower Peninsula has a more severe climate with warm but shorter summers and longer, cold to very cold winters averaging almost 160 inches of snowfall each year.

On January 26, 1837, Michigan became the 26th state of the union. Its population of 9,962,311 consists of large European American groups including German, British, Irish, Polish and Belgian. There is also a notable presence of people of Scandinavian descent with western Michigan known for its Dutch heritage, the highest of any state.

The majority of the population of the city of Detroit, Flint and Benton Harbor are African Americans. The Detroit metropolitan area is the state’s largest metropolitan area with a population of 3,734,090. Michigan’s state capital is the city of Lansing. The second largest city is Grand Rapids, which is known for its furniture industry and is home to five of the world’s leading office furniture companies. The leading auto-producing state in the U.S. is the state of Michigan. It also ranks 3rd or 4th in Research and Development, is a leading grower of fruit in the U.S., and is the 3rd leading grower of Christmas trees. Michigan draws many vacationers, hunters and nature enthusiasts due to its many forests, lakes and thousands of miles of beaches.

Our Free Public Records Directory website provides links to the Michigan public records listed below. They are sorted by category and record type including present and historical property records, present and historical vital records, and other record types both present day and historical.

Abbreviation	MI, Mich.
Capital	Springfield
Population	9,962,311 (2017 est.)
Area size	96,716 sq. mi.
Demonym	Michiganian
Primary languages spoken	English
Governor	Rick Synder
Lieutenant Governor	Brian Calley
U.S. Senators	Debbie Stabenow, Gary Peters
U.S. House Delegation	9 Republicans, 4 Democrats
Time Zone – Most of State - 4 Counties	Eastern: UTC -5/-4 Central: UTC -6/-5

*The map and data in the table are from Wikipedia.

Browse by Public Record Category

There are two types of public records; 1) personal public records that document major life milestones such as birth certificates, death certificates, divorce records, and marriage records, etc.; and 2) government records that are made public such as property tax records, recorded land records, voter records, crime data, jail inmate records, and court records. The Freedom of Information Act is a national law that releases government agency public records and makes it possible to view most public records. ^[2] The Michigan Freedom of Information Act, enacted in 1977, is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of government bodies at all levels in Michigan.^[3]

Since there are a multitude of records available, it can be difficult to know how or where to access them. When you are ready to start your search, you’ll find our Public Records Directory website easy to use since all of the records can be searched by federal, state, county, city, town or type of record. The links provided will connect you to the best website for the record search, provide details about the record, or provide contact information for those records without search capabilities.