Luce County, Michigan

Luce County is a county in Michigan, United States, in the eastern Upper Peninsula about 60 miles
southeast of Marquette. It had a population of 5,339 at the 2020 census, an estimated 6,339 by
2025, and covers 899 square miles (2,330 km2) of land centred near 46°17′N 85°20′W.

Newberry is the county seat and Luce County’s only incorporated community; its postal code is 49868.
The county holds 1 village, 4 civil townships and 20 unincorporated communities, and it
runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 26095.

Towns & Villages in Luce County

Luce County has 21 named places on record: 1 incorporated village and 20 unincorporated
communities with no local government of their own. Unincorp. covers crossroads, landings and
former rail stops with no formal boundary.

Two names on this list are easy to mix up. The unincorporated community of McMillan sits in
Columbus Township, not in the much larger McMillan Township next door — the township took
its name from the same rail-era settlement but the community itself was platted a few miles away.
McMillan Township, in turn, is the one that contains Newberry, the county seat, despite being
named for the smaller place.

Townships

McMillan Township alone covers 588.78 square miles, close to two-thirds of the county’s land
area, making it the largest township by land area of any municipality in Michigan.

ZIP Codes

• 49868 — Newberry (covers Dollarville and most of the county’s rural addresses)
• 49853 — McMillan

Every other place on the list — Soo Junction, Danaher, Laketon, Helmer, Carpenter Landing,
Deer Park and the rest — has no ZIP code of its own; mail there is delivered under one of
these two codes, since Luce County has never supported more than two post offices at once.

Geography

Luce County sits in the eastern Upper Peninsula between Lake Superior and the Manistique River
watershed, a landscape of jack-pine plains, cedar swamp and glacial outwash. Of its 1,912 square
miles, only 899 are land — the other 1,013, 53 percent of the total, are water, by far the
highest water share of any Michigan county. Most of that is Lake Superior itself, which forms the
county’s entire northern border; the rest comes from North and South Manistique Lakes in the
southeast corner and the Tahquamenon River, which crosses McMillan Township on its way to the
falls in neighboring Chippewa County.

Chippewa County lies to the east, Mackinac County to the south, Schoolcraft County to the
southwest, and Alger County to the west; across Lake Superior to the north lie Ontario’s Algoma
and Thunder Bay districts in Canada. Chippewa
County, Mackinac County, Schoolcraft County and Alger County all border Luce directly.

Demographics

Luce County had a population of 5,339 at the 2020 census, down from 6,631 in 2010, and the
latest Census Bureau estimate puts the county back up near 6,339 residents by 2025. Much of that
2010-to-2020 drop traces to a change in how Michigan counts state prisoners: the 2020 census
counted people at their home address rather than at the facility where they’re incarcerated,
which shrank the on-paper population of any county running a large prison, Luce included. Newberry
is by far the largest community, holding roughly a quarter of the county’s residents. Median
household income runs about $54,893, well below Michigan’s statewide figure of $69,183 (2023
ACS). Population density works out to under 6 people per square mile of land, among the lowest
in the state; Luce ranks as Michigan’s second-least-populous county, behind only Keweenaw.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector, with about 340
workers, followed by public administration at 244 and manufacturing at 229. The Newberry
Correctional Facility, a state prison on the edge of the village, is one of the county’s largest
single employers and a major reason public-administration jobs loom so large in a county this
small. Luce County Airport, a few miles southeast of Newberry, serves general aviation. Tourism
built around Tahquamenon Falls State Park, whose western section reaches into McMillan Township,
draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to the area and supports the county’s lodging and
outfitting businesses. Newberry has carried the official title Michigan’s Moose Capital since the
state legislature designated it in 2002, reflecting the herd reintroduced to the eastern Upper
Peninsula in the late 1980s. The Newberry News, a weekly paper, has covered the county since
1886.

History

The Michigan Legislature organised Luce County out of Chippewa County in 1887, naming it for
Cyrus G. Luce, who was governor at the time. Newberry, already platted in 1882 around a sawmill
and named for U.S. Representative and industrialist John Stoughton Newberry, became the new
county’s seat. Much of the county’s early economy ran on the same pattern as its neighbors: rail
lines built to move white-pine lumber out of the interior, with settlements like Dollarville
— named for lumber-company manager Robert Dollar, who later made his fortune in Pacific
shipping — growing up around mills and depots that mostly disappeared once the pine was
cut.

Getting There

M-28, Michigan’s longest state trunkline highway, runs east-west a few miles south of Newberry
and is the county’s main through route; M-123 runs north-south through the village itself, and
M-117 serves the western part of the county. No interstate highway crosses Luce County.

• Sault Ste. Marie — about 60 miles east
• St. Ignace — about 55 miles southeast
• Marquette — about 90 miles west
• Munising — about 60 miles west

Chippewa County International Airport, near Sault Ste. Marie, is the nearest airport with
scheduled commercial service. Luce County Airport, southeast of Newberry, handles general
aviation only. Indian Trails intercity buses connect Newberry to St. Ignace and points west along
M-28; there is no passenger rail service in the county.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Luce County located?
It sits in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula on Lake Superior, about 60 miles southeast of
Marquette, bordered by Chippewa, Mackinac, Schoolcraft and Alger counties.

What is the population of Luce County?
5,339 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 6,339.

How big is Luce County?
1,912 square miles in total, but only 899 square miles are land — 53 percent of the county
is water, mostly Lake Superior.

What is the county seat of Luce County?
Newberry is the county seat and Luce County’s only incorporated community.

How many towns and villages are in Luce County?
One incorporated village, Newberry, plus 20 unincorporated communities including Dollarville,
McMillan, Soo Junction and Helmer, spread across four civil townships.

What ZIP codes does Luce County use?
49868 for Newberry and most of the county, and 49853 for McMillan.

What is Luce County known for?
Tahquamenon Falls State Park, whose western section lies in McMillan Township, and Newberry’s
official status as Michigan’s Moose Capital.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Michigan.