Methodology

Every load-bearing number on this site traces to an official source. The two largest datasets come from state and federal government publications.

Property tax rates. Each year the Michigan Department of Treasury publishes a statewide Total Property Tax Rates report. Michigan Porch parses that report into the dataset behind the property tax calculator and the place pages. The current import holds 3,574 rate rows across all 83 Michigan counties and powers 1,538 city, township, and village pages. When Treasury publishes the next report, the whole dataset is re-imported.

Population figures. Place populations come from the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program. The site uses the Vintage 2024 subcounty estimates for Michigan cities, townships, and villages.

Rules, fees, and deadlines. These come from the agency that owns them - Michigan Treasury, the Secretary of State, the DNR, the State Police - and from the Michigan Compiled Laws. Wikipedia is not used as a source.

Facts age. A fee, a rate, or a deadline can change in one legislative session. So each time-sensitive fact on this site is logged in a fact ledger with the claim itself, its official source links, and the date it was last verified.

Each fact also carries a re-check cadence. Money, tax, vehicle, and outdoor-rule facts are re-checked at least once a year. Home, property, and licensing facts are re-checked about every eighteen months. History notes get a fresh look about every three years. Review runs re-verify whatever is past its date against the official source.

Scripted checks run alongside the ledger. They test every external link for dead or moved pages, flag claims without a source, and compare place descriptions against Census map data.

The stamps are visible on the pages. Tool pages show a "Last reviewed" date and list their sources near the bottom. Notes show the date they were last reviewed against their listed sources.

If a number, date, or link on this site looks wrong, please say so. Email hello@michiganporch.com or use the feedback form on the page itself. Include the page address and what looks off.

Every report gets checked against the official source. If the page is wrong, it gets fixed and its review date gets updated. If the official source itself is ambiguous, the page says so instead of guessing.

Michigan Porch is an independent guide owned by Emma Rose Holdings LLC. It is not a government site, and no state or local agency reviews it.

It is not legal, tax, financial, insurance, or firearms-law advice. Calculators and explainers are planning tools, not official decisions. The local assessor, treasurer, clerk, or State of Michigan office controls the official answer for your situation. The full disclaimer spells this out.

The datasets behind this site are free to reuse. Machine-readable copies live at michiganporch.com/data/ under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0). Use them for anything, with one condition: credit "Michigan Porch — michiganporch.com".

Rates are re-imported each year from the official state reports, so the data stays close to the source.