Did You Know Michigan Has One of the Smallest Towns In the United States?

When you think of Michigan what comes to mind? Maybe Major League sports like Tigers, Lions, Pistons, Red Wings? What about big cities like Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing? Motown? Or the Great Lakes and hundreds of inland lakes.

We're full of small towns as well, cozy little hamlets where millions of Michiganders live. But what would you consider small, 50,000, 20,000, 10,000? That's sort of small, right? But what about REALLY small -- so small you had no idea it even existed? I found some, and, Michigan's smallest.

Here are some that you may not have known were even here.

There's Deerfield Village with a whopping 898 folks. That's small!

There's Stephenson in Menominee County with only 862 folks.

Then of course you have to consider the thriving metropolis of Ubly in the thumb of Michigan with 858 locals.

And where high school football is played rain, shine or SNOW!

You certainly can't forget Zeba in the UP on Lake Superior with 397 townsfolk.

Zeba is absolutely one of the best spots to see the Northern Lights.

Or how about Barton Hills, just outside of Ann Arbor, a thriving village of 294 people --

well known for the Barton Hills Country Club and their huge golf outings!

However, they are big cities compared to Michigan's smallest city.

Michigan's smallest city is---Pilgrim! It's located around the Crystal Lake area in Northern Michigan in western Benzie County. Pilgrim is the least-populated of the 212 current census-designated places in Michigan according to the 2020 census.

So how small is Pilgrim? A total of 44 hearty souls live in Pilgrim. Yes, I said 44 people live in Pilgrim. Hey, Pilgrim has grown remarkably because only 11 people officially lived there in the 2010 census.

Granted it is a beautiful spot of Michigan for sure, by Crystal Lake, Lake Michigan,  but you have to drive a bit for anything, food, gas, entertainment, etc. That's small.

Pilgrim is actually an unincorporated community, but a dream spot in Northern Michigan and probably a great spot to visit.