This County is Home to the Most Lakes in Michigan

If someone were to ask you which county in Michigan had the most inland lakes, what would your guess be? Most people would probably guess a county to the north. Maybe even as far north as the Upper Peninsula. But would they be right?

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How Many Total Inland Lakes Does Michigan Have?

According to Wikipedia, Michigan has a total of 62,798 total inland lakes. But those numbers come from bodies of water as small as 0.1 acre and up. Correct me if I'm wrong but, a tenth of an acre is more of a puddle or pond than an inland lake.

So, taking that number out of the equation, Wikipedia breaks down the rest of Michigan's Inland Lakes as follows:

- 26,266 lakes up to 1 acre

- 6,537 lakes between 1 - 10 acres

- 1,148 lakes between 10 - 100 acres

- 98 lakes between 100 - 1,000 acres

- 10 lakes 10,000 acres or more

How Many Counties Make Up Michigan?

Knowing that there are only 83 counties in the Great Lakes state, it starts to put the massive amount of inland lakes into perspective. Using the number of 'total lakes in Michigan,' divided by the 83 counties, would mean that statistically each county has approximately 757 lakes on average. But that is obviously not the case. So which county in Michigan boasts the most lakes?

The Michigan County with The Most Inland Lakes

If you are looking for the Michigan county with the most inland bodies of water to choose from, don't look to the north.

Surprisingly enough, this award goes to none other than Oakland County, Michigan. But, oddly enough, exactly how many lakes Oakland County has kind of depends on who you ask.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources claims Oakland County has 358 lakes, while the website Images of Michigan, citing the 1912 book History of Oakland County, Michigan by Thaddeus DeWitt Seeley, counts 450. Wikipedia claims that Oakland County is home to 387 lakes, with 317 of those named and 70 without names.

Regardless of the exact number of lakes in Oakland County, it's still the county with the most. And, as Waterboy Bobby Boucher would say in a situation like this, "that is some quality H2O."