Benton TownshipElkhart County, IN
A town of 3,276, platted in 1832.
Is Benton Township a good place to live?
Benton Township gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $248K for a typical one, or 3.6 years of the Elkhart metro’s $69K median household income. It grades B+ overall, 211th among Indiana's 585 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 76% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. On the plus side, its schools rank ahead of 83% of Indiana towns. On hazard risk, just 65 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns do better. Benton Township’s median age is 27.5 years, below both Indiana’s towns (39.5 years) and U.S. towns (40.5 years). Log Cabin Inn Tourist Camp is on the National Register of Historic Places.
What makes Benton Township stand out
Where Benton Township beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Benton Elementary School | K–6 | 481 |
| Peaceful Woods | 1–8 | 36 |
| Timber View School | 1–8 | 27 |
94% of working residents leave Benton Township for work
Where Benton Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Benton Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Benton Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Benton Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Benton Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Benton Township.
Benton Township pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices and has added half again as many jobs in ten years, but it trails even towns with similar incomes on health.
Very low risk in Benton Township, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 89% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Benton Township earns an A− for schools
Its A− for schools comes with a B+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $248K.
Its public schools are run by the Fairfield Community Schools. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Fairfield Jr-Sr High School, with 944 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benton Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–6 | Grades K–6 | 481 | B+ |
| Fairfield Jr-Sr High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 944 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IN on state tests and graduation
Benton Township earns a C− for health
Against the 9,422 U.S. towns with household incomes like Benton Township’s, it is less healthy than 93%, so it trails even them.
19% of adults report frequent mental distress in Benton Township. Benton Township beats the Indiana average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 18% of adults smoke cigarettes in Benton Township.
| Benton Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 8.3% | 8.1% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 39% | 35% |
| What stands out | Benton Township | IN |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 11.5% | 8.9% |
| More smokers | 18.1% | 15.7% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 74.9% | 77.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Benton Township has 0.6 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs based here grew from 472 in 2013 to 792.
Most working residents leave Benton Township for work: only 6% work in town. The average trip to work in Benton Township is 19 minutes. Since 2013, Benton Township has added 320 jobs, to 792 in 2023.
| Benton Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $94,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 7.2% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 6% | 11% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Benton Township has four seasons and pleasant summers
Benton Township has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 24 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Benton Township has set aside 0.7% of its land for conservation
2.6 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. The biggest place to walk is River Preserve County Park, 48 acres with 1.2 miles of trail.
| Benton Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.7% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. River Preserve County Park | 1.2 mi | 48 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Benton Township
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Benton Township
About 0 of every 100 Benton Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
About Benton Township
Unincorporated community and Census designated place in Indiana, United States
Benton is an unincorporated community in Benton Township, Elkhart County, Indiana.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Elevation
- 830 ft
Benton Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Benton Township.
It grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Clinton Township (B) comes closest.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benton Township | #211 | B+ | B+ | — | A− | C− |
| Perry Township | #428 | C+ | B+ | — | C+ | D |
| Jackson Township | #293 | B | C+ | — | A− | C |
| Clinton Township | #265 | B | C+ | — | A− | C |
| Turkey Creek Township | #317 | B | B+ | — | C+ | C |
Benton Township, Perry Township, Jackson Township, Clinton Township and Turkey Creek Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Benton Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Benton Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Benton Township, IN a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Benton Township grades B+ overall, better than 72% of U.S. towns and #211 of 585 in Indiana. It grades C− for health and A− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Benton Township, IN expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.