River
Detroit River
45 km from source to mouth · United States and Canada.
United States and CanadaFlows into Lake Erie
In numbers
Length
45km
Average flow
5.3m³/s
Basin
1,811km²
Drop
1m
from 173 m to 172 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
45 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 9 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Saint Clairat 173 m
- 0 kmGrosse Pointe5,232 people
- 1 kmGrosse Pointe Park11,220 people
- 3 kmLake Saint Clair1,161 km²
- 6 kmBelle Isle Park
- 8 kmMacArthur Bridge (1888)
- 8 kmMacArthur Bridge
- 10 kmWindsor229,660 people
- 12 kmDetroit–Windsor Tunnel
- 12 kmDetroit639,111 people
- 13 kmMichigan Central Railway Tunnel
- 15 kmAmbassador Bridge
- 18 kmGordie Howe International Bridge
- 20 kmRiver Rougetributary
- 23 kmEcorse9,305 people
- 25 kmGrassy Island
- 27 kmWyandotte25,058 people
- 35 kmGrosse Ile11,361 people
- 38 kmAmherstburg13,910 people
- 45 kmLake Erieat 172 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River along the border between Michigan and Ontario
At the mouth it carries 5.3 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 470 seconds. Its basin covers 1,811 km², about the size of GP. 19.6 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to June; lowest: from January to February. Its dams hold back little of its water (7.0% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- DetroitLargest city on its banks · 639,111 people
- Windsor International Airport (YQG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 10 km from the cityCar hire at YQG airport (Windsor)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water127 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Detroit River, month by month
Highest water: from April to June
Lowest water: from January to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): January. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 8,500 m³/s in the lowest month to 10,100 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Detroit River: the basin in numbers
595,052 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 19.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 35/km²people per km²
- 268maverage altitude of the basin
- 830mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 5.0°Caverage air temperature
- 9%protected areas
- 37.2%covered by lakes
- 20km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 42% Forest
- 15% Cropland
- 3% Pasture
- 2% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Detroit River: what you find on the way
- 2Weirs
- 32Boat rampsKayak/Canoe Launch (Marshall's Bar), Kayak/Canoe Launch, St. Jean Boat Launch and 29 more
- 4Ferry piers
- 91MarinasGrosse Pointe Boat Club Marina, Windmill Pointe Park Marina, Lakeview Park Marina and 88 more
- 5River beachesSandpoint Beach, Hipster Beach, Belle Isle Beach and 2 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Detroit River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
1beach at the mouth or on the banksCoastya
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Saint Clairkm 3 · 3 m deep1,161km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Detroit River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (5)
Also: River Rouge, Ecorse River, Canard River, Turkey Creek, Little River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
United States65 km5,200 m³/s66 km awayCuyahoga RiverUnited States137 km29 m³/s133 km awayAllegheny RiverUnited States523 km560 m³/s316 km awayMonongahela RiverUnited States209 km360 m³/s316 km awayNiagara RiverCanada53 km5.8 m³/s361 km awayScioto RiverUnited States372 km190 m³/s368 km awayKanawha RiverUnited States156 km430 m³/s366 km awayKentucky RiverUnited States417 km280 m³/s411 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q318435) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Coastya — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit