Houghton is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and largest city in the Copper Country on the Keweenaw Peninsula. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 7,010. It is the county seat of Houghton County. It has been listed as one of the "100 Best Small Towns in America. " Houghton is sometimes confused with, or thought to be close to, Houghton Lake; the latter is actually located in the state's Lower Peninsula. Due to its location in the northwestern portion of the Upper Peninsula, Houghton is isolated from the state's most populous areas. It is farther to drive from Houghton to Detroit than it is from Detroit to or Atlanta, Georgia or Washington, DC. It takes several hours less to travel to Chicago, Milwaukee, or Minneapolis from Houghton than it does to travel to Detroit. Houghton was named after Houghton County, which was named after Douglass Houghton. The area lends itself to a wide variety of outdoor sports, both winter and summer.