The 38th district was created with the adoption of the 1963 Michigan Constitution, as the previous 1908 state constitution only permitted 34 senatorial districts.

[4] District 38 encompasses the entirety of Alger, Baraga, Delta, Dickinson, Gogebic, Houghton, Iron, Keweenaw, Luce, Marquette, Menominee, Ontonagon, and Schoolcraft counties, as well as parts of Chippewa and Mackinac counties.

[5] District 38, as dictated by the 2011 Apportionment Plan, was based in the western two-thirds of the Upper Peninsula, covering all of Alger, Baraga, Delta, Dickinson, Gogebic, Hougton, Iron, Keweenaw, Marquette, Menominee, Ontonagon, and Schoolcraft counties.

Communities in the district included Baraga, Escanaba, Gladstone, Hancock, Houghton, Iron Mountain, Iron River, Ironwood, Ishpeming, Kingsford, Manistique, Marquette, Menominee, Munising, Negaunee, Norway, and Ontonagon.

At nearly 13,000 square miles (34,000 km2), it was the largest Senate district in the state.