Michigan Ground Snow Load by County and Town

Michigan publishes its own table of ground snow loads, Table R301.2(5) Michigan Ground Snow Loads by Jurisdiction (R 408.30515 Ground snow loads), through Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction Codes. twelve of its published figures are set out below with the row each was read from. Only 14 states out of 50 publish anything of their own like it; the other 36 send a reader either to the national code or to a county counter. twelve Michigan figures, running from 20 at WAYNE to 100 at KEWEENAW: TOWNSHIP OF EAGLE HARBOR, TOWNSHIP OF GRANT, TOWNSHIP OF HOUGHTON, every one of them quoted from the document it was printed in. Nationally 235 figures were read across 33 states.

Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction Codes: the state rule prints the value county by county and names individual cities, villages and townships that differ. In its own words: “Rule 515. Figure R301.2(5) and Table R301.2(1) of the code are amended and Table R301.2(5) is added to the code to read as follows:”

The figure is keyed to the county in Michigan, as it is in 21 states, so the county line rather than the town line is what changes the answer. The published Michigan figures run from 20 to 100.

Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Director's Office, Construction Code (Part 5. Residential Code) adopts Michigan residential code for 1- and 2-family dwellings (international residential code, 2015 edition). Michigan amended it rather than adopting it whole, and 22 states have done the same. The adopting rule reads: “Rule 500. The provisions of the international residential code, 2015 edition, including appendices A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, K, N, O, P, R, and S except for Sections R 104.2, ... govern the construction, alteration, relocation, demolition, use, and occupancy of buildings and structures, and, with the exceptions noted, the international residential code is adopted by reference in these rules.”

A ground snow load is a weight per unit area and not a depth, and the two are joined only by the density of the snow on the day, which is why the published documents give the load and leave the depth out. Wet spring snow and dry January snow of the same depth are different weights on the same roof. Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction Codes works in loads for that reason, and so does every figure set out below.

The Michigan document itself is the place to look a town up, and what it prints is applied by Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction Codes. The document behind it is Table R301.2(5) Michigan Ground Snow Loads by Jurisdiction (R 408.30515 Ground snow loads), published by Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction Codes, read on September 23, 2026. It establishes the point this way: “Rule 515. Figure R301.2(5) and Table R301.2(1) of the code are amended and Table R301.2(5) is added to the code to read as follows:”

14 of 50: Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin. The other 36 split into 17 that adopt the national code without a snow amendment and 19 that leave every figure to a county or city building department. That is the single most useful fact about this subject and no one state's own website carries it.