Olive TownshipElkhart County, IN
A town of 3,418.
Is Olive Township a good place to live?
Olive Township gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $239K, 3.5 years of the Elkhart metro’s $69K median household income. It grades A− overall, 156th of 585 graded towns in Indiana. On the plus side, its schools rank ahead of 95% of Indiana towns. Only 11 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns score higher on hazard risk. Olive Township’s average trip to work is 28 minutes, above both the Indiana town median (24 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes).
What makes Olive Township stand out
Where Olive Township beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Wakarusa Elementary School | K–5 | 534 |
| Old Order Mennonite Garden Spot | 1–8 | 38 |
| North Wood Middle School | 6–8 | 653 |
Olive Township has grown 11% since 2010
3,068 counted in 2010 and 3,388 in 2020; an estimated 3,418 in 2025.
Growth has leveled off: within 1% of 2020, after 10.4% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How Olive Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Olive Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Olive Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Olive 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 Olive Township.
Olive Township pairs an A+ for schools with modest home prices and carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Indiana (mostly inland flooding), but it has little public open land.
Olive Township earns an A+ for schools
Its A+ for schools comes with a B+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $239K. Its A+ ranks #22 of the 592 Indiana towns we grade for schools.
Its public schools are run by the Wa-Nee Community Schools. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Wood Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 653 | A− |
| Wakarusa Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 534 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IN on state tests and graduation
Olive Township stands out in Indiana and nationally, with the FEMA risk score lower than most
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 98% of Indiana towns, with expected losses of about $247 per resident a year; that rating is what its A+ for hazard risk is built on.
Olive Township’s FEMA risk score is 5 of 100. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Olive Township since 2018.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Health in Olive Township trails 72% of U.S. towns
Olive Township beats the Indiana average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 42% of Olive Township adults have obesity.
| Olive Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 39% | 35% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 8.3% | 8.1% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 32% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| What stands out | Olive Township | IN |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 11.1% | 8.9% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 18.6% | 15.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Olive Township has snowy winters and pleasant summers
Olive Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 45 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Fewer young adults than Indiana overall
Adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (23% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 43% of residents (37% statewide). 28% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 30% across Indiana.
| Olive Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 24% | 23% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 28% | 22% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.8 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Olive Township | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.9% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.7% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.7% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.3% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 19.2% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 8.6% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.2% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.6% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.9% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11.6% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 40.2% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 12.1% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.3% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,400, single groups can be off by several points
With 1.4 jobs for every working resident, Olive Township draws in 1,807 commuters
Jobs based in Olive Township grew to 2,049 in 2023, 343 more than in 2013. 5.6% of residents live below the poverty line in Olive Township. The top destinations are Wakarusa (16%), Elkhart (15%) and Goshen (11%).
| Olive Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 11% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 5.6% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 5.6% | 7.8% | 11% |
| Median household income | $82,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Conserved land covers 0% of Olive Township
Just 0 of its 11,549 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Olive Township itself; its outdoors grade is D.
0.8 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Stan & Steve Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Notre Dame Stadium and 10 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Olive Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaNotre Dame Stadium
14 mi CaveGrotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, Notre Dame
21 mi Ancient siteFort St. Joseph
14 mi MuseumStudebaker National Museum12 mi Zoo & aquariumPotawatomi Zoo
37 mi State parkWarren Dunes State ParkPhoto credits
Notre Dame Stadium: Tysto, Public domain · Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, Notre Dame: Know1one1, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort St. Joseph: Chris Light (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Studebaker National Museum: Unknown, Public domain · Warren Dunes State Park: hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Everything we know about Olive Township
Colleges nearby
8 within 15 miles of the center of Olive Township
About 2 of every 100 Olive Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
About Olive Township
Township in Indiana, United States
Olive Township is one of sixteen townships in Elkhart County, Indiana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,068.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 18 sq mi
- Elevation
- 823 ft
Olive Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Olive Township.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olive Township | #156 | A− | B+ | — | A+ | C |
| Harrison Township | #186 | A− | B | — | A+ | C |
| Locke Township | #79 | A | B | — | A+ | C |
| Madison Township | — | — | B+ | — | A+ | C |
| Baugo Township | #319 | B | B | — | A− | D |
Madison Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Olive Township, Harrison Township, Locke Township, Madison Township and Baugo Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Olive Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Olive Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Olive Township, IN a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Olive Township grades A− overall, better than 79% of U.S. towns and #156 of 585 in Indiana. It grades C for health and A+ for schools.
Is Olive 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+.