Michigan Porch

County

Houghton County, Michigan

Use this county page to find cities, townships, and villages in Houghton County. Each local page gives you property-tax context, school-district rate ranges, official-source links, nearby places, and any Porch Notes tied to that community.

County snapshot

Cities

2

Townships

14

Villages

0

School districts

17

Primary home (PRE) rates, for homes with Michigan's Principal Residence Exemption, range from 25.1486 mills to 49.6634 mills.

Other property, often called non-homestead, usually means rentals, vacation homes, and second homes. Those rates range from 43.1486 mills to 67.6634 mills.

Rate rows come from the official Michigan Treasury millage-rate reports . Last reviewed June 8, 2026.

Local pages

Places in Houghton County

Back to places

Porch Notes

Local notes from Houghton County

Stories, practical notes, and local details tied to places in this county.

Houghton County · History and culture

Calumet, the town copper built

Calumet was once the beating heart of the world's richest copper district -- a booming, polyglot town of immigrants. Today its grand old buildings anchor Keweenaw National Historical Park, and a quiet memorial marks the Copper Country's deepest tragedy.

Read this note ->

Houghton County · History and culture

Hancock and the Copper Country's Finnish roots

When the copper mines needed workers, thousands of Finns crossed the ocean to the Keweenaw. Their mark is everywhere in Hancock -- in saunas, in pasties, in street signs, and in the Finnish American Heritage Center.

Read this note ->

Houghton County · Money and taxes

Is there a city income tax in Houghton or Hancock?

Neither Houghton nor Hancock charges a city income tax -- and neither does anywhere else in the Upper Peninsula. The nearest one is Grayling, well over a hundred miles away.

Read this note ->

Houghton County · History and culture

The Portage Lake Lift Bridge, the heaviest of its kind

The big green bridge between Houghton and Hancock is the world's heaviest double-decked vertical-lift bridge -- and the only land link between the upper and lower halves of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Read this note ->

Houghton County · History and culture

The Quincy Mine, 'Old Reliable' above Hancock

The red shaft-house on the hill above Hancock marks the Quincy Mine -- a copper mine that paid out for half a century, drove a shaft over a mile and a half deep, and holds the largest steam hoist engine ever built.

Read this note ->

Houghton County · Home and property

What to know about well and septic in Houghton County

Outside the cities and villages, most of Houghton County is on private well and septic. Michigan has no statewide septic code, and the local health department doesn't require an inspection when a property is sold -- though it offers one that some home loans and buyers ask for.

Read this note ->

Next steps

What to check next in Houghton County

Start with a local page, then move into the Michigan rule or tool that matches the question in front of you.