Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,806, settled in 1865.
Bear Lake Township’s best subject grade is an A for civic life; its weakest is a C for walkability. Bear Lake Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Bear Lake Township beats most towns.
Where Bear Lake Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Bear Lake Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 236 in 1880, a peak of 504 in 1910, 342 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 2005 and a map from 1956 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bear Lake 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 Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Bear Lake Township.
8 flood insurance claims have been paid in Bear Lake Township since 1986. FEMA expects less storm and flood damage locally than in 88% of U.S. communities. Just over three fifths of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by cold waves at 22%.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Public schools: the Bear Lake Schools. Two of the 3 schools are below, and why each made the list. 2 public schools serve Bear Lake Township, with 280 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Lake Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 147 | C |
| Bear Lake High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 133 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Employers in Bear Lake Township shed 109 jobs between 2011 and 2021, to 285. In Bear Lake Township, 4.5% of residents live below the poverty line, where Michigan’s towns sit at 8.9% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. For Bear Lake Township, the average trip to work is 22 minutes. Half the trips to work are shorter than 16 miles.
| Bear Lake Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 4.5% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 8.9% | 10% | 11% |
| Median household income | $73,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
People 65 and older are 29% of residents (19% statewide); children under 18 are 15% of residents (21% statewide). For Bear Lake Township, the age of the median resident is 50 years. Four-year graduates: 28% of adults 25 and older here, 32% across Michigan.
| Bear Lake Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 29% | 19% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 15% | 21% | 22% |
| Median age | 50 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
55% women, 45% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±5.3 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Bear Lake Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.6% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.1% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.1% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.9% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.8% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.4% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.4% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 16.5% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 12.1% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.7% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 35.4% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.2% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.7% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.6% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.4% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,800, single groups can be off by several points
In Bear Lake Township, the peak summer temperature is 79°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Typical home values rose 10% in the year to September 2026. 93% of households live in a home they own in Bear Lake Township. Its rent at the middle of the market is $1,100 a month, near the Michigan town median ($1,046 a month) and below the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month).
| Bear Lake Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 93% | 84% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,100 a month | $1,046 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
CDC measures, 32 in all: Bear Lake Township beats Michigan on 5 and trails on 6. For adults locally, the share who report frequent physical distress is 16%.
| Bear Lake Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 36% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 12% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 34% | 36% |
| What stands out | Bear Lake Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9.6% | 11.9% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 7.2% | 8.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.7% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
7.1 miles of trail wind through 1 park or preserve. Bear Lake Township’s density of trails stands at 0.2 miles per square mile. Parks and preserves locally: one, of 3 acres.
| Bear Lake Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.9% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hopkins Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bear Lake Township. Close and well known come first.
19 mi National LakeshoreSleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore1.6M visitors a year
37 mi National forestManistee National Forest
13 mi TheatreRamsdell Theatre39 mi MuseumShrine of the Pines12 mi MuseumMichigan Legacy Art ParkSleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore: en:User:Grod028, Public domain · Manistee National Forest: RomanKahler, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ramsdell Theatre: Doug Coldwell, CC BY-SA 4.0
None within 15 miles of Bear Lake Township; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Bear Lake Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
Village in Michigan, United States
Bear Lake is a village in Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 342 at the 2020 census. The village is located within Bear Lake Township.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Bear Lake Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Lake Township | — | — | B− | — | B− | C+ |
| Maple Grove Township | — | — | A− | — | C | C− |
| Brown Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Onekama Township | — | — | C− | — | B | B |
| Pleasanton Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Bear Lake Township, Maple Grove Township and Onekama Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Bear Lake Township, Maple Grove Township and Onekama Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Brown Township and Pleasanton Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Bear Lake Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 5 years of the area's median household income ($63,516 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
