Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although it partly extends into Leelanau County. The population was 15,678 at the 2020 census, with 153,448 residents in the four-county Traverse City metropolitan area. Traverse City is the most populous city in the Northern Michigan region. Traverse City is at the head of the East and West arms of Grand Traverse Bay, a 32-mile-long bay of Lake Michigan.