Leelanau County, Michigan

Leelanau County
County
Sleeping Bear Dunes and South Manitou Island (background) from the Empire Bluffs Trail, near Empire
Flag Seal
Nickname:  "Michigan's Little Finger"
Location within the U.S. state of Michigan
Michigan's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 45°08′N 86°02′W / 45.13°N 86.03°W / 45.13; -86.03
Country	United States
State	Michigan
Founded	1840 (created) 1863 (organized)[1]
Named for	Leelanau Peninsula
Seat	Suttons Bay Township
Largest settlement	Greilickville Suttons Bay (incorporated)
Area
• Total	2,532 sq mi (6,560 km2)
• Land	347 sq mi (900 km2)
• Water	2,185 sq mi (5,660 km2)  86%
Population  (2020)
• Total	22,301
• Estimate  (2023)	23,019
• Density	63/sq mi (24/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	1st
Website	www.leelanau.gov

Leelanau County (/ˈliːlənɔː/ LEE-lə-naw) is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,301.^[2] Since 2008, the county seat has been located within Suttons Bay Township, one mile east of the unincorporated village of Lake Leelanau.^[3] Before 2008, Leelanau County's seat was Leland.^[4] Leelanau County is included in the Traverse City metropolitan area of Northern Michigan. The largest settlement in Leelanau County by population is Greilickville, itself a suburb of Traverse City.

Leelanau County is coterminous with the Leelanau Peninsula, a roughly triangular-shaped peninsula that extends about 30 miles (50 km) off of Michigan's Lower Peninsula into Lake Michigan. East of Leelanau County is Grand Traverse Bay, a bay of Lake Michigan.

In 2011, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, located in the county, won the title of "Most Beautiful Place in America" in a poll by morning news show Good Morning America.