Michigan Rabies Map: Confirmed Animal Cases by County, 2011–2026
Every confirmed rabies-positive animal in Michigan from 2011 to 2026 — 762 in all — mapped by county and year, from MDHHS MiTracking surveillance data. Tap a county for its breakdown.
Confirmed cases per year, 2011–2026
2011–2022 from MiTracking; 2023–2026 from MDHHS annual rabies maps. 2026 is year-to-date (as of June 15, 2026).
Hover or tap a county
Showing total confirmed cases, 2011–2026. Use the Year menu to step through individual years.
What the data shows
Across 16 years, Michigan confirmed 762 rabid animals. Bats accounted for roughly 9 in 10 (~91%), with skunks a distant second (60 — almost all in a single 2023 cluster). Foxes, cats, dogs, and woodchucks together made up the small remainder.
The most striking number is the one that isn't there: zero rabid raccoons in 16 years. Despite raccoons' national reputation as a rabies carrier, Michigan's wild rabies reservoir is the bat — the state has never had the raccoon-variant rabies endemic to parts of the eastern U.S. If you find a bat in your home, that's the encounter that warrants caution; a raccoon in the attic is a property problem, not a rabies emergency.
A note on reading the map: raw case counts track population and testing volume, not per-capita risk. Metro counties (Oakland, Wayne, Kent) report more cases largely because more people live there and submit more animals for testing — not because a resident there is necessarily at higher risk. Read it as "where cases are confirmed," not "where it's most dangerous."
What to do if you may have been exposed
- If a bat is found in a room where someone was sleeping, or near a child or anyone who can't reliably report a bite, do not release it — Michigan public health guidance calls for the bat to be captured and tested.
- For any bite or scratch from a wild or unknown animal, wash the wound and contact your doctor or local health department promptly.
- Report the animal to your local health department.
- Keep pets' rabies vaccinations current — it's the main barrier between wildlife rabies and your household.
Source & method: Confirmed rabies-positive animals, by county, year, and species. 2011–2022 from the MDHHS MiTracking queryable dataset (Bureau of Laboratories StarLIMS). 2023–2026 transcribed from the MDHHS annual "Rabies Positive Animals in Michigan" maps, which is the only format published for recent years; each year was reconciled against the map's printed legend total. Counts are confirmed positives, not animals tested, and the per-county figures reconcile exactly to each map's official legend total for every year. 2026 is year-to-date (as of June 15, 2026). Accessed June 2026.