Chippewa TownshipMI
A town of 4,668. A regional job hub with 3,536 jobs.
Is Chippewa Township a good place to live?
Chippewa Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, ranked 579th of 697 in Michigan, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: a typical home costs about $157K, 2.8 years of the Mount Pleasant area’s $55K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $65K, and 16% of residents live below the poverty line. On history, just 30 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns do worse. 16% of residents live below the poverty line in Chippewa Township, against 8.9% in Michigan’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 81% of U.S. towns.
What makes Chippewa Township stand out
Where Chippewa Township beats most towns.
Every workday, about 3,232 people come to Chippewa Township for work
Where Chippewa Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Chippewa Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Chippewa Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Chippewa Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Chippewa 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 Chippewa Township.
About one in six working residents works right in Chippewa Township
3,536 jobs are based in Chippewa Township, 2.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Among working residents in Chippewa Township, 18% work locally. The median commute is under 12 miles. The top destinations are Mount Pleasant (19%), Union Township (6%) and Midland (5%).
| Chippewa Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Median household income | $65,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
On state tests, Chippewa Township’s schools beat 51% of Michigan districts
The Shepherd Public Schools runs its public schools. Its two schools are below. Enrollment at Chippewa Township’s public school: 69 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saginaw Chippewa Academy PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 71 | – |
| Odyssey MiddleHigh SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 69 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Health in Chippewa Township trails 66% of U.S. towns
In Chippewa Township, just over a fifth of adults say their health is fair or poor. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Chippewa Township is ahead of Michigan on 2 and behind on 9. 30% of adults locally have been diagnosed with depression; 36% feel lonely.
| Chippewa Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 18% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 27% | 23% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 32% | 33% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 37% | 35% |
| What stands out | Chippewa Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.6% | 8.9% |
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 3.3% | 3.7% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14.5% | 10.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The climate in Chippewa Township brings four seasons and pleasant summers
Expect chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers in Chippewa Township. Summer afternoons peak near 83° in July, and January nights bottom out around 16°; snowfall runs to about 39 inches a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Top of a low hazard risk in Chippewa Township: inland flooding
On expected storm and flood damage, Chippewa Township sits below nearly two thirds of U.S. communities. 54% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 16%.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Chippewa Township looks like Michigan by age
23% of adults 25 and older hold at least a bachelor’s degree, against 32% across Michigan. The age mix tracks Michigan closely: no broad group is more than 4 points off. For residents in Chippewa Township, the share who are under 18 is 19%. The town has grown 3.3% since 2020, to 4,668 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Chippewa Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 23% | 26% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.9 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Chippewa Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.6% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.5% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.4% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.6% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.8% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.8% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.5% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.1% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.5% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.3% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 14.9% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.3% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,700, single groups can be off by several points
In Chippewa Township, 0.5% of the land is conserved
2.4 miles of trail. The trail density in Chippewa Township is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Chippewa Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.5% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Chippewa Township
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Chippewa Township
About 4 of every 100 Chippewa Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Chippewa Township
Civil township in Michigan, United States
Chippewa Township is a civil township of Isabella County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 4,446. The city of Mount Pleasant is nearby to the west, and the Mount Pleasant post office, with ZIP code 48858, also serves the northern portion of Chippewa Township.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 36 sq mi
- Elevation
- 745 ft
Chippewa Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Chippewa Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chippewa Township | #579 | C− | B | — | B− | C |
| Coe Township | #549 | C | B− | — | B+ | C− |
| Denver Township | — | — | B+ | — | C+ | C |
| Union Township | #629 | C− | C | — | C+ | C+ |
| Greendale Township | — | — | A | — | B+ | C |
Denver Township and Greendale Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Chippewa Township, Coe Township, Denver Township, Union Township and Greendale Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Chippewa Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Chippewa Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Chippewa Township, MI a good place to live?
Chippewa Township grades C− overall, better than 23% of U.S. towns and #579 of 697 in Michigan. It grades C for health and B− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Chippewa 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 B.