Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 68,726. Public schools that outperform most of Indiana.
Penn Township gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $190K for a typical one, or 2.8 years of the South Bend metro’s $67K median household income. It grades A− overall, 147th of 585 graded towns in Indiana. On the plus side, its schools rank ahead of 95% of Indiana towns. Only 73 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns score higher on hazard risk. 20% of working residents work locally in Penn Township, where Indiana’s towns sit at 11% and U.S. towns at 8%. On civic life, just 59 of Indiana’s 1,043 towns do worse.
Where Penn Township beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Lasalle Elementary School | PK–6 | 519 |
| Walt Disney Elementary School | K–5 | 512 |
| Beiger Elementary School | PK–6 | 504 |
Mishawaka Reservoir Caretaker's ResidenceEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Penn Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2000 and 4 maps from 1958 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Penn Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw6 mi Stadium & arenaNotre Dame Stadium
36 mi National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
7 mi CaveGrotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, Notre Dame
7 mi MuseumStudebaker National Museum
13 mi Ancient siteFort St. Joseph5 mi Zoo & aquariumPotawatomi ZooNotre Dame Stadium: Tysto, Public domain · Indiana Dunes National Park: J. Crocker, Attribution · Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, Notre Dame: Know1one1, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Studebaker National Museum: Unknown, Public domain · Fort St. Joseph: Chris Light (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Penn 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Penn Township.
Penn Township pairs an A+ for schools with modest home prices and looks healthier within Indiana than nationally.
Its A+ for schools comes with a B for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $190K. Its A+ ranks #22 of the 592 Indiana towns we grade for schools.
Its public schools are run by Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. Three of its 27 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schmucker Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,041 | B+ |
| Penn High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 3,687 | A+ |
| Bittersweet Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 494 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IN on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 88% of U.S. communities. Since 1982, 37 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Penn Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
13 miles of trail in 28 parks and preserves. Ferrettie/Baugo Creek County Park, at 149 acres with 2.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Penn Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.5% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ferrettie/Baugo Creek County Park | 2.5 mi | 149 |
| 2. Central Park | 1.1 mi | 15 |
| 3. Mary Gibbard Park | 0.5 mi | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Penn Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 50 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About one in 5 of Penn Township’s working residents works in town. The average trip to work in Penn Township is 21 minutes. Since 2013, Penn Township has added 2,366 jobs, to 26,473 in 2023.
| Penn Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $66,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 9% | 7.8% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Within Indiana it is healthier than 58% of the 589 graded towns: much of Indiana scores lower on these measures.
Penn Township beats the Indiana average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 29% of Penn Township adults have been diagnosed with depression.
| Penn Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 26% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 17% | 14% |
| What stands out | Penn Township | IN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with depression | 28.5% | 25.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Indiana average. Penn Township’s median age is 37 years. 31% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 30% across Indiana.
| Penn Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 37 years | 39.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 22% | 29% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.1 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women. Median age: women 39.2, men 34.9.
| Penn Township | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.2% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.3% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.4% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.1% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.5% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.2% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.8% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.3% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 31.6% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.5% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.4% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.7% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.9% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
7 within 15 miles of the center of Penn Township
About 5 of every 100 Penn Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Indiana.
Township in Indiana, United States
Penn Township is one of thirteen townships in St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 64,322.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Penn Township.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn Township | #147 | A− | B | — | A+ | C+ |
| Baugo Township | #319 | B | B | — | A− | D |
| Portage Township | #515 | C | B+ | — | C− | D |
| Mishawaka | #432 | C+ | B− | C− | A− | C |
| South Bend | #579 | D | B+ | D | C− | D |
| Harris Township | #95 | A | C | — | A+ | A− |
| Madison Township | — | — | B+ | — | A+ | C |
| Clay Township | #397 | B− | C+ | — | C− | B+ |
Madison Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Penn Township, Baugo Township, Portage Township, Harris Township, Madison Township and Clay Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Penn Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Penn Township grades A− overall, better than 79% of U.S. towns and #147 of 585 in Indiana. It grades C+ for health and A+ for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
