THE CHARLEVOIX COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Manistee-Leelanau Shore setting.
Charlevoix County has 416.3 square miles of land in Michigan. 4 mapped landscape regions meet across Charlevoix County: Manistee-Leelanau Shore, Vanderbilt Moraines, Onaway Moraines, among others.
This transition between northern forests and southern farming country includes lakes, wetlands and hardwood woodland. Glacial landforms support a mosaic of open land and wooded areas.
Regional context: North Central Hardwood Forests ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Charlevoix County intersects 4 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Manistee-Leelanau Shore59.9%
- Vanderbilt Moraines24%
- Onaway Moraines16%
- Mio Plateau0.1%
Northern Lakes and Forests in Charlevoix County
Glacial hills, till plains, sandy outwash and old lake basins create a varied northern landscape. Conifer and hardwood forests surround many lakes across these glacially shaped uplands.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Charlevoix County
The atlas lists 26 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Charlevoix County, including Peaine, Chandler, Boyne Valley. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Charlevoix County by land and water
The Census records 974.1 square miles of water within Charlevoix County, or 70.1% of its total area. That share is close to Charlevoix County’s 70.1%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Charlevoix County has 404.6 times the land area of nearby St. James CDP (1.03 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.
The Census boundary meets Antrim County, Cheboygan County, Emmet County, Leelanau County, Mackinac County, Otsego County, Schoolcraft County within Michigan. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.

