Essex TownshipMI
A town of 1,847, settled in 1844. 23% more nonprofits per person than the typical Michigan town.
Is Essex Township a good place to live?
Essex Township’s best subject grades are an A for cost of living and an A− for schools and civic life; its weakest is a C for incomes. On cost of living, just 41 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns do better. The biggest park or preserve is Maple River State Game Area, at 1,201 acres. Essex Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Essex Township stand out
Where Essex Township beats most towns.
94% of working residents leave Essex Township for work
Where Essex Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Essex Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Essex Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Essex Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Essex 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 Essex Township.
With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Essex Township’s workers commute out
Most working residents leave Essex Township for work: only 6% work in town. 17% of residents live below the poverty line in Essex Township, above both the Michigan town median (8.9%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). Jobs based in Essex Township grew to 251 in 2021, 79 more than in 2011.
| Essex Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 13% | 10% | 11% |
| Median household income | $71,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Essex Township has snowy winters and pleasant summers
Essex Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 50 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
On CDC estimates, Essex Township is healthier than 60% of U.S. towns
Essex Township beats the Michigan average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 31% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Essex Township, against 34% in Michigan’s towns and 36% across U.S. towns. 28% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Essex Township.
| Essex Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 34% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 81% | 80% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 25% | 25% |
| What stands out | Essex Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.1% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.9% | 8.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.9% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Essex Township has set aside 5.3% of its land for conservation
1.1 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Maple River State Game Area | 0.1 mi | 1,201 |
| 2. Maple Rapids Memorial Ball Fields | — | 10 |
| 3. Maple Rapids Village Park and Community Center | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Moderate risk in Essex Township, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 56% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Everything we know about Essex Township
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Essex Township; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Essex Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
About Essex Township
Civil township in Michigan, United States
Essex Township is a civil township of Clinton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,827 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 36 sq mi
- Elevation
- 705 ft
Essex Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Essex Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Township | — | — | A | — | A− | B |
| Greenbush Township | — | — | C+ | — | A− | B− |
| Lebanon Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Bengal Township | — | — | B | — | A | B |
| Fulton Township | — | — | B+ | — | B− | B− |
Essex Township, Greenbush Township, Bengal Township and Fulton Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Essex Township, Greenbush Township, Bengal Township and Fulton Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Lebanon Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Essex Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Essex Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Essex Township, MI a good place to live?
23% more nonprofits per person than the typical Michigan town.
Is Essex 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.