Take M-72 west from Traverse City for about 24 miles and it ends at Lake Michigan in Empire, a small village in southwestern Leelanau County where M-72 meets M-22.
Empire sits in the middle of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and the Lakeshore's headquarters and the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center are right on Front Street. The village itself is small, with 362 residents at the 2020 census.
I'm Taylor Brown. My mom and business partner, Janel, and I sell homes all over Northern Michigan, and Empire comes up with buyers who want to live next to the dunes in a small town right next to the dunes.
Lake Michigan and South Bar Lake. The two sit only a strip of sand apart at the west end of town.
Lake Michigan: Empire Beach Village Park is a short walk from downtown, with the Robert H. Manning Memorial Lighthouse at the water and a boat launch.
South Bar Lake: This much smaller lake sits just behind the beach, separated from Lake Michigan by a wide strip of sand. It stays a good deal warmer than the big lake in summer.
A lumber town. Empire was founded in 1851 and named after the schooner Empire, which got stuck in the ice here during an 1865 storm. From 1887 to 1917 the Empire Lumber Company operated a mill here. Its mill burned in 1906 and was rebuilt, then burned again in 1917 and was never replaced, because most of the timber nearby was gone. The Empire Area Museum on LaCore Street keeps that history, in an old saloon building and a one-room schoolhouse out back, and admission is free during its summer hours.
The village. Joe's Friendly Tavern, on Front Street, opened in 1940. Grocer's Daughter Chocolate makes its chocolate in a shop on LaCore. Every spring the village holds the Empire Asparagus Festival on Front Street; in 2026 it was on June 6.
Empire Bluff Trail. Just south of town, this trail is a 1.5-mile round trip through beech and maple forest out to a bluff about 400 feet above Lake Michigan, ending at a wooden boardwalk with views up and down the shoreline. Most people finish it in under an hour.
What buyers should know.
Village or township: The Village of Empire sits inside Empire Township, and the two have separate rules and separate tax rates. On the 2025 rates, a primary residence paid about 26.5 mills in the village against about 19.9 in the township outside it. Our payment calculator shows what that means for a monthly payment.
Short-term rentals: In August 2026 the village adopted a registration ordinance. Owners register each rental every year, pay a fee and name a local emergency contact, with no cap for now, though the village was still setting up the process this fall. We haven't found an adopted short-term rental ordinance in Empire Township, and its planning commission is rewriting the zoning ordinance, so call before you assume either way. Our STR Checker is a good place to start.
The National Lakeshore: Federal land surrounds much of Empire, and some private homes sit inside the Lakeshore boundary itself. If a property is near the park, find out exactly where it falls and what that means for it.
Schools: Empire is in the Glen Lake Community Schools district.
Why our experience matters here. In Empire, the village line decides your tax rate and your rental rules, and the National Lakeshore can sit right at the property line. We'll pull the tax record to confirm which side of the village line a house is on and check where the park boundary runs before you make an offer.
Come see it. The best way to judge Empire is to stand on the bluff and then walk Front Street. Reach out and we'll do both with you, and talk plainly about whether a town surrounded by park land fits how you want to live.
Thinking about being on the water around here? Here are the current Lake Michigan homes for sale in Leelanau County and Glen Lake homes for sale, checked against the MLS every day.
Janel & Taylor Brown
The Brown Team | Real Estate One
(231) 360-1510
