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Geography · Great Lakes · Map

Is Lake Michigan in Canada? No, it is 100% American

No, Lake Michigan is not in Canada. It lies entirely in the United States, all 57,541 km² of it, and it is the only Great Lake that does not touch the border. The surveyed Canada–U.S. border runs through Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario, but not Lake Michigan.

Published 9 Oct 2026 · Open Data Canada Sources International Boundary Commission · Natural Earth · NOAA GLERL
  • 57,541 km²total surface, third-largest of the five Great Lakes
  • 0.0%in Canada (0 km²), 5th of five by Canadian share
  • 100.0%in the United States (57,541 km²)
  • 23.5%of the five Great Lakes' surface, all of it American
Map of Lake Michigan split along the Canada–U.S. boundary, shown as a dashed line. The whole lake is navy (United States); the border runs well to the east, through Lake Huron.

Surface area on each side of the surveyed border. Source: International Boundary Commission boundary v1.3; Natural Earth lake outlines; ODC calculation in an equal-area projection (EPSG:3174).

Lake Michigan is entirely in the United States

Lake Michigan's 57,541 km² make up 23.5% of the five Great Lakes' surface, all of it in the United States. That is a large part of why Canada holds only 36.6% of the Great Lakes overall, even though it holds more than half of Huron, Ontario and Erie. No Great Lake is entirely in Canada. Lake Michigan joins Lake Huron at the Straits of Mackinac, and NOAA reports the two as one water level, Michigan-Huron: its provisional September 2026 level was 0.9 cm above its 1918–2025 September average (56th-highest of 109 Septembers).

All five lakes compared

Lake Canada share Canada km² U.S. km² Total km²
Superior 35.8% 29,460 52,851 82,311
Michigan 0.0% 0 57,541 57,541
Huron 61.0% 36,550 23,387 59,937
Erie 50.5% 13,002 12,734 25,736
Ontario 54.7% 10,653 8,810 19,464
All five lakes 36.6% 89,664 155,323 244,987

Common questions

Is Lake Michigan in Canada? No. Lake Michigan is entirely in the United States: all 57,541 km² of it lies south of the border, and it is the only Great Lake that does not touch Canada.

How much of Lake Michigan is in Canada? None. 0% of its surface is Canadian.

Which Great Lake is entirely in Canada? None. Lake Michigan is entirely in the United States, and the other four are shared. Lake Huron has the largest Canadian share, 61.0%.

Sources

Method Each lake outline was cut along the surveyed boundary and measured in EPSG:3174 (NAD83 / Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Albers), an equal-area projection. Figures are the published split from our Great Lakes map.

Limits

  • Surface area only. The boundary data and lake outlines give no depth, water volume or per-country shoreline, so this page does not say how much of the lake's water each country holds.
  • NOAA reports one water level for Michigan and Huron together; there is no separate level for either lake.

All five lakes on one map: How much of each Great Lake is in Canada?

Other lakes: Lake Superior · Lake Huron · Lake Erie · Lake Ontario

Published

9 October 2026

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How we work

Every figure comes from a named public source, with the method stated. Read our methods

Cite this chart

Open Data Canada. "Lake Michigan is entirely in the United States." Published 9 October 2026. https://opendatacanada.ca/charts/lake-michigan-canada-us-split