FIPS code 26085 is Lake County, Michigan. With a population of 12,285 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #72 in Michigan and #2321 nationally. The state FIPS code for Michigan is 26. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
26085
Population
12,285
2022 ACS · #2321 nationally
Density
21.7/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
567
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — completely rural
RUCC 9
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 26085 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 26 (Michigan) with the 3-digit county identifier 085. Together they uniquely identify Lake County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 26085
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 26085.
Median Household Income
$45,946
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
20.3%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
51.8
ACS B01002_001E
Adjacent Counties (7)
Counties that share a border with Lake County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 26085.
Federal Datasets Using Code 26085
FIPS code 26085 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 26085 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:085",
"in": "state:26",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Lake County, Michigan, income, pop, ...]-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '26085';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '26'
AND county_fips = '085';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 26085 is WRONG for this countylibrary(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "26",
county = "085",
year = 2022
)ZIP Codes in Lake County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Lake County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 49304 | 100.0% |
| 49623 | 100.0% |
| 49642 | 100.0% |
| 49656 | 100.0% |
| 49644 | 93.5% |
| 49402 | 51.9% |
| 49677 | 30.3% |
| 49688 | 10.5% |
| 49601 | 9.0% |
| 49309 | 5.0% |
| 49655 | 2.3% |