Geography
Michoacán covers 58,599 km² across three bands. The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt crosses the centre and holds most of the population at 1,500–2,000 m: Morelia, Lake Pátzcuaro, Lake Cuitzeo — the second-largest lake in Mexico by surface area — and the Michoacán-Guanajuato volcanic field, which contains more than a thousand cinder cones. The highest point is Pico de Tancítaro, 3,860 m, west of Uruapan. South of the belt the land drops into the Tierra Caliente basin of the Balsas River, hot lowland growing limes, mango and melon, and then rises again in the Sierra Madre del Sur before falling to about 210 km of Pacific coast.
Paricutín, the best-documented volcano in the state, appeared in a cornfield near Uruapan on 20 February 1943, built a cone about 424 m high and stopped erupting in 1952; the lava buried San Juan Parangaricutiro and left its church tower standing. In the east, on the border with the State of Mexico, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve protects about 56,000 hectares of oyamel fir forest where monarchs from Canada and the United States overwinter between roughly November and March; it has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008. The Cupatitzio, Lerma and Balsas rivers drain the state, and Michoacán is Mexico's largest producer of avocados, limes, strawberries and blackberries.
The state has 113 municipalities. Lake Pátzcuaro and the towns around it are the heartland of the Purépecha, the people whose kingdom at Tzintzuntzan was never conquered by the Aztecs; Purépecha is still spoken by more than 100,000 people. Morelia's colonial centre, built in pink cantera stone, has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991.
Main cities
Populations are 2020 INEGI census counts for the whole municipality. Morelia and Uruapan hold about a quarter of the state's people between them, and Lázaro Cárdenas on the coast is Mexico's busiest container port on the Pacific.
| Municipality | Population (2020) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Morelia | 849,053 | Capital; UNESCO centre, airport MLM |
| Uruapan | 356,000 | Avocado trade; airport UPN |
| Zamora | 201,000 | Bajío farmland in the north-west |
| Lázaro Cárdenas | 186,000 | Pacific container port and steel |
| Zitácuaro | 155,000 | Gateway to the monarch sanctuaries |
| Apatzingán | 128,000 | Tierra Caliente, Balsas basin |
| Hidalgo (Ciudad Hidalgo) | 122,000 | Eastern highlands on Highway 15 |
| La Piedad | 105,000 | On the Lerma, pork industry |
| Pátzcuaro | 96,000 | Lake Pátzcuaro; Purépecha region |
Roughly one in ten people born in Michoacán lives in the United States, the highest emigration rate of any Mexican state, and remittances are among the largest single sources of income here. Avocado orchards around Uruapan, Tancítaro and Peribán supply most of the fruit exported to the United States, and the harvest runs all year rather than in one season.
Neighbouring states
Six states border Michoacán. Clockwise from the north-west: Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro, State of Mexico, Guerrero, Colima. The Lerma River marks much of the Guanajuato line, the Balsas much of the Guerrero one, and Querétaro touches only a short stretch in the north-east. The Pacific forms the south-western edge, from the Colima border to the mouth of the Balsas at Lázaro Cárdenas. The state sits on the Pacific Coast and its highlands form part of the Sierra Madre.
Getting there
Morelia's General Francisco J. Mújica airport (MLM) is 27 km north of the city and has flights to Mexico City, Tijuana and several US cities with large Michoacano communities, including Chicago and Los Angeles. Uruapan (UPN) and Lázaro Cárdenas (LZC) take domestic services. By road, Highway 15D runs from Mexico City through Toluca and Zitácuaro to Morelia, 305 km in about four hours, and continues to Guadalajara. Highway 14 and Highway 37 cross the state from Morelia through Uruapan to the coast, about 400 km and six hours, and Highway 200 follows the shoreline. See the road map, the airports map and the volcanoes map.
Questions about Michoacán
Where is Michoacán on the map of Mexico?
In the west of the country, between Jalisco and Guerrero, with a Pacific coast in the south-west. Morelia is 305 km west of Mexico City on Highway 15D, about four hours.
Where are the monarch butterflies in Michoacán?
In the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve on the border with the State of Mexico, at 2,400–3,600 m in the oyamel fir forests. The two sanctuaries usually open to visitors are El Rosario and Sierra Chincua, near Angangueo and Ocampo, from about November to March.
What is Paricutín?
A cinder cone that began erupting in a cornfield near Uruapan on 20 February 1943, grew about 424 m above the plain and stopped in 1952. It buried the village of San Juan Parangaricutiro, whose church tower still stands above the lava.
Is Michoacán safe to visit?
Morelia, Pátzcuaro and the monarch reserve receive visitors year-round, while the US State Department has placed the state on its do-not-travel list with limited exceptions for Morelia, Lázaro Cárdenas and the Highway 15D corridor. Check the current advisory.