Good news on city income tax in West Branch and Rose City
West Branch and Rose City charge no city income tax; the nearest city that does is Grayling, about 45 miles up I-75.
Between them, Ogemaw County’s two cities held fewer than 3,000 people at the 2020 census — West Branch counted 2,351, Rose City 577 — and neither takes a dime of income tax from any of them. That puts both in Michigan’s quiet majority: just twenty-four of the state’s cities levy a local income tax under the 1964 law that allows one, and they tend to be much bigger operations.
The nearest city with its hand out is Grayling, about 45 miles up I-75, which keeps 0.5% of what nonresidents earn inside its limits and 1% from its own residents. Few Ogemaw County commutes run that far north, so for most people here the subject begins and ends with the property-tax bill — city, county, school, and township mills — plus Michigan’s flat state income tax.
Rose City is the detail worth savoring. It runs a full city government for 577 people — the same legal machinery as Detroit, at roughly a thousandth the population. State law would let it adopt an income tax tomorrow, same as any city in Michigan. Nobody is holding their breath.
Sources
Last reviewed against the listed sources: July 2, 2026.