THE WASHTENAW COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Clayey High Lime Till Plains setting.
Washtenaw County has 706 square miles of land in Michigan. 4 mapped landscape regions meet across Washtenaw County: Clayey High Lime Till Plains, Interlobate Dead Ice Moraines, Maumee Lake Plain, among others.
Rolling glacial till plains are interrupted by end moraines and areas of older, more dissected deposits. The historical landscape had more tree cover than the Central Corn Belt to the west.
Regional context: Eastern Corn Belt Plains ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Washtenaw County intersects 4 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Clayey High Lime Till Plains69.1%
- Interlobate Dead Ice Moraines18%
- Maumee Lake Plain12.2%
- Oak Openings0.8%
Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains in Washtenaw County
Lakes, marshes and complex glacial deposits create a varied landscape around southern Michigan and northern Indiana. Moraines, beach ridges, dunes, kettles and meltwater channels occur across the region.
Read the regional source ↗Huron/Erie Lake Plains in Washtenaw County
A broad former lake plain is interrupted by old beach ridges, dunes and glacial moraines. The landscape is mostly low-relief, with important differences between sandy rises and lower ground.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Washtenaw County
The atlas lists 29 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Washtenaw County, including Manchester, Sharon, Augusta charter. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Washtenaw County by land and water
The Census records 16.4 square miles of water within Washtenaw County, or 2.3% of its total area. That share is close to Washtenaw County’s 2.3%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Washtenaw County has 20.6 times the land area of nearby Lodi township (34.3 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.
The Census boundary meets Jackson County, Lenawee County, Livingston County, Monroe County, Oakland County, Wayne County within Michigan. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.

