Clearwater TownshipMI
A town of 2,600, organized in 1867.
Is Clearwater Township a good place to live?
Clearwater Township gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $218K for a typical one, or 2.7 years of the Traverse City metro’s $81K median household income. It grades B overall, ranked 324th of 697 in Michigan. On the plus side, it has 27 miles of trail. 12% of the land in Clearwater Township is conserved, where Michigan’s towns sit at 4.4% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Skegemog Lake Wildlife Area, at 3,286 acres with 6.6 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 80% of U.S. towns.
What makes Clearwater Township stand out
Where Clearwater Township beats most towns.
Community nonprofits per 1,000 residents
94% of working residents leave Clearwater Township for work
Where Clearwater Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Clearwater Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Clearwater Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Clearwater Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Clearwater 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 Clearwater Township.
Clearwater Township gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and sends most of its workers to Traverse City and beyond.
11.9% of Clearwater Township is conserved land
Clearwater Township’s trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile, against 0.3 in Michigan’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Skegemog Lake Wildlife Area | 6.6 mi | 3,286 |
| 2. Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit | 4 mi | 622 |
| 3. Freedom Park | 0.1 mi | 13 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
On state tests, Clearwater Township’s schools trail 59% of Michigan districts
Its public schools are run by the Kalkaska Public Schools. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rapid City Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 70 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Most working residents commute out of Clearwater Township
Clearwater Township has 214 jobs for its 941 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 31.5 minutes, against 24.2 across Michigan.
Most working residents leave Clearwater Township for work: only 6% work in town. The average trip to work in Clearwater Township is 32 minutes. Since 2011, Clearwater Township has added 139 jobs, to 214 in 2021.
| Clearwater Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 5.8% | 10% | 11% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Fewer young adults than Michigan overall
Adults 18 to 34 are 13% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 24% of residents (19% statewide). Clearwater Township’s median age is 45.9 years. Clearwater Township has grown 4.3% since 2020, to 2,600 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Clearwater Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 45.9 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 23% | 26% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 21% | 22% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.3 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Clearwater Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.1% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.4% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.2% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.1% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.5% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.9% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 15.6% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.2% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 39.9% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.7% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 5.5% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.1% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.8% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,600, single groups can be off by several points
Clearwater Township faces a low natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 69% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Clearwater Township has snowy winters and pleasant summers
The Kalkaska weather station, 7 miles away, records that 132 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 99% of U.S. towns.
Clearwater Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81° and January nights drop to 14°.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Residents of Clearwater Township are healthier than 58% of U.S. towns
Clearwater Township beats the Michigan average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 30% of adults feel lonely in Clearwater Township.
| Clearwater Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 36% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 34% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 80% | 79% |
| What stands out | Clearwater Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.8% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 8.4% | 11.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.7% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Everything we know about Clearwater Township
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Clearwater Township; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Clearwater Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Clearwater Township
Civil township in Michigan, United States
Clearwater Township is a civil township of Kalkaska County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 2,497.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 34 sq mi
- Elevation
- 650 ft
Clearwater Township’s neighbors
6 towns share a border with Clearwater Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearwater Township | #324 | B | A | — | C+ | B |
| Milton Township | — | — | C− | — | A | B |
| Rapid City | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Helena Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Kalkaska Township | #272 | B | A+ | — | C+ | C |
| Rapid River Township | — | — | A+ | — | C+ | C+ |
| Whitewater Township | #118 | A | B− | — | A | A− |
Milton Township and Rapid River Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Clearwater Township, Milton Township, Kalkaska Township, Rapid River Township and Whitewater Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Rapid City and Helena Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Clearwater Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Clearwater Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Clearwater Township, MI a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Clearwater Township grades B overall, better than 58% of U.S. towns and #324 of 697 in Michigan. It grades B for health and C+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Clearwater 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.