No city income tax in Emmet County

Good news for anyone moving to the Petoskey area: neither of Emmet County’s cities — Petoskey or Harbor Springs — charges a local income tax. Most Michigan cities don’t; only about two dozen do, mostly bigger or more industrial places like Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing. Up here, local government runs on property taxes instead of a paycheck tax.

So wherever you land — one of the two cities, the villages of Alanson, Pellston, or Mackinaw City, or any of the townships — you’ll file your federal and Michigan income taxes but won’t owe a separate city income tax. When you’re weighing the cost of living against a place that does have one, that’s a genuine difference, though for most households property tax rates and home prices matter a lot more.