Brooks TownshipMI
A town of 3,833.
Is Brooks Township a good place to live?
Brooks Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 620th of 697 graded towns in Michigan, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $78K. Its lowest everyday mark is in health: residents are less healthy than 74% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. A typical home there costs about $244K, 3.9 years of the county’s $63K median household income. 23% of the land in Brooks Township is conserved, above both Michigan’s towns (4.4%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 93% of U.S. towns. On history, just 76 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns do worse.
What makes Brooks Township stand out
Where Brooks Township beats most towns.
99% of working residents leave Brooks Township for work
Where Brooks Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Brooks Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Brooks Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Brooks Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Brooks 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 Brooks Township.
Conserved land covers 23.2% of Brooks Township
27 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. Brooks Township’s trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile, above both the Michigan town median (0.3) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4). The biggest place to walk is Coolbough Natural Area, 366 acres with 4.8 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Coolbough Natural Area | 4.8 mi | 366 |
| 2. Newaygo Prarie Sanctuary | 0.5 mi | 106 |
| 3. EH Henning County Park | 0.3 mi | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Most working residents commute out of Brooks Township
Brooks Township has 218 jobs for its 1,547 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here fell from 815 in 2011 to 218.
Most working residents leave Brooks Township for work: only 1% work in town. Brooks Township’s average trip to work is 34 minutes. Jobs based in Brooks Township fell to 218 in 2021, 597 fewer than in 2011.
| Brooks Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 34 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.7% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Brooks Township’s grade for health is a C
18% of Brooks Township adults smoke cigarettes. Brooks Township beats the Michigan average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 16% of Brooks Township adults report frequent physical distress.
| Brooks Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 36% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 12% | 12% |
| What stands out | Brooks Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14% | 10.2% |
| More adults with COPD | 10.4% | 8.1% |
| More smokers | 18% | 14.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Inland flooding leads a low hazard risk in Brooks Township
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 69% of U.S. communities. Since 1986, 21 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Brooks Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Brooks Township has snowy winters and pleasant summers
Brooks Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 16° and about 64 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Everything we know about Brooks Township
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Brooks Township; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Brooks Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Brooks Township
Township in Michigan, United States
Brooks Township is a civil township of Newaygo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 3,705.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 34 sq mi
- Elevation
- 653 ft
Brooks Township’s neighbors
5 towns share a border with Brooks Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooks Township | #620 | C− | C+ | — | B− | C |
| Newaygo | #642 | D | C+ | C− | B− | C+ |
| Everett Township | — | — | B+ | — | C | D |
| Garfield Township | #541 | C | C+ | — | B | C |
| Croton Township | #623 | C− | C+ | — | B− | C |
| Grant Township | #451 | C+ | B+ | — | B− | C+ |
Everett Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Brooks Township, Everett Township, Garfield Township, Croton Township and Grant Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Brooks Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Brooks Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Brooks Township, MI a good place to live?
Brooks Township grades C− overall, better than 16% of U.S. towns and #620 of 697 in Michigan. It grades C for health and B− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Brooks Township, MI expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.