[2] The township is named for the Chocolay River and is located on the shore of Lake Superior.

[1] At the 2000 census,[3] there were 7,148 people, 2,324 households and 1,743 families residing in the township.

There were 2,643 housing units at an average density of 44.3 per square mile (17.1/km2).

Based on self-reporting in Census 2000, 12.7% were of Finnish, 11.1% German, 10.5% French, 8.6% English, 7.6% Irish, 5.6% Swedish and 5.1% Italian ancestry.

21.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.