Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,519. Public schools that outperform most of Indiana.
Yes, by almost any measure. Pleasant Township earns an A+, 11th among Indiana's 585 graded towns. A typical home costs about $251K, 2.8 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, its schools outperform 93% of the state's, and the median household earns $87K. Its lowest mark, a B−, is in health. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. Pleasant Township’s typical journey to work is 31 minutes, above both the Indiana town median (24 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). The biggest park or preserve is Aukiki County Park, at 61 acres.
Where Pleasant Township beats most towns.
Where Pleasant Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Pleasant Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 984 in 1890, 4,478 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and a map from 1953 on.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Pleasant 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 Pleasant Township.
Pleasant Township pairs an A for schools with modest home prices and looks healthier within Indiana than nationally, but it has commutes longer than most of Indiana.
That grade comes with an A for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $251K.
The largest public high school is Kouts Middle/High School, with 381 students. Its two schools are below. Public school enrollment in Pleasant Township: 704 students across 2 schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kouts Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 323 | A |
| Kouts Middle/High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 381 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IN on state tests and graduation
The average commute for its 1,997 working residents takes 31.1 minutes, against 24.1 across Indiana.
The top destinations are Valparaiso (21%), Kouts (8%) and Merrillville (5%). Commuting out is the norm in Pleasant Township: a tenth of working residents work locally. 2.2% of residents live below the poverty line in the town. Employers in Pleasant Township added 102 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 805.
| Pleasant Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 2.2% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $87,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Trails total 6.7 miles in 3 parks and preserves. Pleasant Township’s concentration of trails comes in at 0.1 miles per square mile. Parks and preserves in the town: 3, covering 68 acres.
| Pleasant Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.4% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Aukiki County Park | — | 61 |
| 2. Dunn’s Bridge County Park | — | 4 |
| 3. Thomas S. Drazer Memorial Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in just over two thirds of U.S. communities. FEMA puts half of Pleasant Township’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 21% to cold waves.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 17° and about 34 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (23% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 41% of residents (37% statewide). 23% of adults 25 and older hold at least a bachelor’s degree, against 30% across Indiana. The median age for Pleasant Township comes to 42 years.
| Pleasant Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 42 years | 39.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 23% | 22% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 19% | 18% | 18% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.9 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Pleasant Township | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.9% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.1% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.7% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.2% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.6% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.3% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.3% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.6% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.3% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.8% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 45.9% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.7% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.6% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 14.8% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.2% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,500, single groups can be off by several points
Within Indiana it is healthier than 76% of the 589 graded towns: much of Indiana scores lower on these measures.
In Pleasant Township, 13% of adults report frequent physical distress. Among adults in the town, 10% worry about having enough food and 18% say their health is fair or poor.
| Pleasant Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 14% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 21% | 19% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Pleasant Township | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.4% | 14.7% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.1% | 8.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Pleasant Township. Close and well known come first.
21 mi National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
37 mi MuseumMascot Hall of Fame37 mi Theme parkIndiana Beach
13 mi MuseumHoosier Valley Railroad Museum
12 mi MuseumBrauer Museum of Art
24 mi GardenIndiana Botanic GardensIndiana Dunes National Park: J. Crocker, Attribution · Mascot Hall of Fame: No machine-readable author provided. JGlover assumed (based on copyright claims), CC BY-SA 2.5 · Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum: Chris Light (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Brauer Museum of Art: Thomas Alexander Harrison, Public domain · Indiana Botanic Gardens: Kurt Stüber [1], CC BY-SA 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Pleasant Township
About 3 of every 100 Pleasant Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
Township in Indiana, United States
Pleasant Township is one of twelve townships in Porter County, Indiana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 4,432.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Pleasant Township.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Township | #11 | A+ | A | — | A | B− |
| Kankakee Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dewey Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wheatfield Township | #78 | A | A+ | — | A− | C |
| Boone Township | #125 | A− | A | — | A− | C+ |
| Morgan Township | #9 | A+ | A | — | A | B− |
| Cass Township | — | — | B | — | C+ | D |
Cass Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Pleasant Township, Wheatfield Township, Boone Township, Morgan Township and Cass Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Kankakee Township and Dewey Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Pleasant Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Pleasant Township grades A+ overall, better than 98% of U.S. towns and #11 of 585 in Indiana. It grades B− for health and A for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
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 A.
