Noncontrolling Interests (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Subsidiary of Limited Liability Company or Limited Partnership [Line Items]
Limited partnership interest of the operating partnership	7.00%	7.00%
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Number of trading days used to calculate redemption value	10 days
Redemption value of outstanding OP Units not owned by the Company	$ 451,189	$ 448,116
Macerich \| The Macerich Partnership, L.P.
Subsidiary of Limited Liability Company or Limited Partnership [Line Items]
Ownership interest in operating partnership	93.00%	93.00%

Represents the aggregate redemption value for the noncontrolling interest.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Minority Interest, Redemption Value Basis Number of Trading Days

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	mac_
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- Definition

Face amount or stated value per share of common stock.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(29))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

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- Definition

The equity interest of noncontrolling shareholders, partners or other equity holders in consolidated entity.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

The parent entity's interest in net assets of the subsidiary, expressed as a percentage.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Details

Name:	srt_OwnershipAxis=mac_TheMacerichCompanyMember
Namespace Prefix:
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- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=mac_TheMacerichPartnershipLPMember
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