Boston TownshipMI
A town of 6,121, settled in 1840. Public schools that outperform most of Michigan.
Is Boston Township a good place to live?
Boston Township gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $235K for a typical one, or 2.8 years of the Grand Rapids metro’s $83K median household income. It grades A overall, ranked 96th of 697 in Michigan. On the plus side, its schools outperform 92% of the state's. Only 112 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns score lower on hazard risk. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Grand River State Game Area, at 106 acres.
What makes Boston Township stand out
Where Boston Township beats most towns.
95% of working residents leave Boston Township for work
Where Boston Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Boston Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Boston Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Boston Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Boston 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Boston Township.
Boston Township pairs an A for schools with modest home prices, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Michigan (mostly inland flooding).
For schools, Boston Township earns an A
That grade comes with an A− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $235K.
Public schools: the Saranac Community Schools. The largest public high school is Saranac JrSr High School, with 406 students. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saranac Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 433 | B− |
| Saranac JrSr High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 406 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Most of Boston Township’s workers commute out: the town has 0.5 jobs for each of them
Boston Township’s mean commuting time is 28 minutes. For most workers, Boston Township is a place to come home to: only 5% work in town. Since 2011, Boston Township has added 266 jobs, to 1,264 in 2021. Among residents here, 12% live below the poverty line, above both Michigan’s towns (8.9%) and U.S. towns (9.6%).
| Boston Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $84,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Conservation land takes up 2.4% of Boston Township
Trails run 10 miles in 6 parks and preserves. Parks and preserves in Boston Township: 6, covering 208 acres. For Boston Township, the trail density is 0.3 miles per square mile.
| Boston Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2.4% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Saranac Village Nature Park | 0.8 mi | 75 |
| 2. Scheid Park | 0.3 mi | 16 |
| 3. Grand River State Game Area | — | 106 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
In Boston Township, expect snowy winters and pleasant summers
Expect July afternoons of 82° and January nights of 16°, with about 66 inches of snow a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Residents of Boston Township are healthier than three in five U.S. towns
The share of adults in Boston Township who have diabetes: 11%. Among adults in the town, 28% have been diagnosed with depression, near the Michigan town median (27%) and above the median of U.S. towns (23%). In Boston Township, 18% of adults binge drink, and 22% get no exercise outside work.
| Boston Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 25% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 19% | 19% |
| What stands out | Boston Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.7% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.8% | 8.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Top of a moderate hazard risk in Boston Township: inland flooding
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 93% of Michigan towns, with expected losses of about $295 per resident a year; that rating is what its C+ for hazard risk is built on.
The risk rating from FEMA in Boston Township is 57 of 100. FEMA puts 69% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 12% to tornadoes.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Ages in Boston Township track Michigan closely
No age group stands out against Michigan: all are within 4 points. Michigan has 32% of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more; here it is 28%. For Boston Township, the median age is 39.9 years.
| Boston Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 39.9 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 18% | 19% | 18% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.1 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women. Among residents 35 to 44, 61% are men (MI 50%).
| Boston Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.9% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.7% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 13.3% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.9% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.7% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.6% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.3% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.5% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.1% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.2% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.8% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.4% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.6% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.9% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
North Country Trail and 14 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Boston Township. Close and well known come first.
5 mi Park & preserveNorth Country Trail
22 mi MuseumGerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
18 mi MuseumFrederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park22 mi TheatreAcrisure Amphitheater
19 mi Theme parkRamona Park
23 mi Zoo & aquariumJohn Ball ZooPhoto credits
North Country Trail: Huron-Manistee National Forests, Public domain · Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum: Staff of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Public domain · Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park: User Jeffness on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Ramona Park: Gpwitteveen, CC BY-SA 3.0 · John Ball Zoo: Gpwitteveen, CC BY-SA 3.0
Everything we know about Boston Township
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Boston Township
About 7 of every 100 Boston Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
About Boston Township
Township in Michigan, United States
Boston Township is a civil township of Ionia County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 6,021.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 36 sq mi
- Elevation
- 863 ft
Boston Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Boston Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Township | #96 | A | A− | — | A | B |
| Lowell Township | #63 | A | C | — | A | A− |
| Keene Township | — | — | B− | — | A− | B− |
| Campbell Township | — | — | B | — | A− | B |
| Berlin Township | — | — | A− | — | A− | C+ |
Keene Township, Campbell Township and Berlin Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Boston Township, Lowell Township, Keene Township, Campbell Township and Berlin Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Boston Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Boston Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Boston Township, MI a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Boston Township grades A overall, better than 88% of U.S. towns and #96 of 697 in Michigan. It grades B for health and A for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C.
Is Boston Township, MI 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 A−.