Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
3,284 people live in this town, platted in 1867.
Essexville’s strongest is health — it is healthier than 76% of U.S. towns. Add cost of living to its strengths — a typical home costs about $164K, 2.7 years of the Bay City metro’s $62K median household income. The drawback is hazard risk — FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 56% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. Overall, that makes an A, better than 91% of U.S. towns. It ranks 64th of 697 in Michigan. On civic life, just 108 of Michigan’s 1,265 towns do worse. Its typical journey to work is 19 minutes, where Michigan’s towns sit at 25 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FEMA National Risk Index.
Where Essexville beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Cramer Junior High School | 5–8 | 484 |
| Garber High School | 9–12 | 489 |
| BayArenac Community High School | 9–12 | 180 |
Where Essexville’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Essexville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,545 in 1890, a peak of 4,990 in 1970, 3,379 in 2020. The archive holds 3 old photos and papers going back to 1930 and 3 maps from 1916 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Essexville, 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Essexville.
Essexville pairs an A overall with homes cheaper than the Michigan norm and is healthier than Bangor Township and its other neighbors, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Michigan (mostly inland flooding).
Essexville grades A overall with a typical home of about $164K, below the Michigan typical value; only 13 of the 103 Michigan towns graded A− or better can say that. At 2.7 years of the Bay City metro’s $62K median household income, the typical home (about $164K) costs less against local pay than in 81% of Michigan towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
95% of Essexville households live in a home they own. Home values are up 4.8% over the year to September 2026. On the market in the town: a median 6 days to sell.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its B+ is the best School Grade on its borders; Hampton Township (B−) is next.
Two of its 3 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. The largest public high school is Garber High School, with 489 students. The public schools here belong to the Essexville-Hampton Public Schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cramer Junior High SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 484 | B− |
| Garber High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 489 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
That grade tops all 3 graded neighbors; Bangor Township (C+) comes closest. Its widest gap with Michigan is food insecurity: 9.5% of its 2,659 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.4% statewide.
The share of adults in Essexville who get no exercise outside work: 21%. The town beats the Michigan average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| Essexville | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 19% | 19% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 25% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Essexville | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.5% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 5.8% | 8.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
For half of commuters, work is under 12 miles away. Essexville had 461 jobs in 2021, down 76 from 2011. Most people who work leave Essexville to do it: just 3% work in town. The top destinations are Bay City (23%), Saginaw (8%) and Midland (6%).
| Essexville | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5.6% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.4% | 5.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 17° and about 49 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
21% of residents are 65 or older in Essexville. Adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (22% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 42% of residents (38% statewide). The Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate puts Essexville at 3,284 residents, down 2.8% since 2020.
| Essexville | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 23% | 26% | 29% |
| Median age | 43.2 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.6 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Essexville | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.4% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.8% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.9% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 16% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.6% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.5% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.1% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.7% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.2% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 31.7% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.6% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 14.5% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.1% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,300, single groups can be off by several points
Essexville's reported crime rate is well below Michigan's. The rate of reported violence here is 0.6 per 1,000 residents. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025.
| Essexville | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 6.1 per 1,000 residents | 8 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 93% of Michigan towns, with expected losses of about $393 per resident a year; that rating is what its C+ for hazard risk is built on.
Federal aid has come to Essexville households in 2 declared disasters; the latest was in 2017. Expected losses in Essexville break down as 62% from inland flooding and 17% from cold waves.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
There are 0.6 miles of trail across 1 park or preserve. One park or preserve covers 3 acres in Essexville.
| Essexville | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.1% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Smith Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Essexville. Close and well known come first.
in town MuseumUSS Edson
in town MuseumSaginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum
20 mi GardenDow Gardens
22 mi City parkChippewa Nature Center
13 mi TheatreTemple Theatre15 mi Zoo & aquariumChildren's Zoo at Celebration SquareUSS Edson: U.S. Navy, Public domain · Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum: John McCullough, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Dow Gardens: Chris.Schiemann, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Chippewa Nature Center: Christian Collins, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Temple Theatre: Ian Poellet, CC BY-SA 4.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Essexville
About 3 of every 100 Essexville residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
City in Michigan, United States
Essexville is a city in Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,379 at the 2020 census. Located along the Saginaw River, Essexville is part of the Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Essexville.
At #64 in MI, it grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Bangor Township (C) comes closest.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essexville | #64 | A | B+ | — | B+ | A− |
| Bangor Township | #531 | C | B− | — | B− | C+ |
| Hampton Township | #548 | C | B− | B− | B− | C+ |
| Bay City | #586 | C− | A− | C− | B− | C− |
Essexville and Bangor Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Essexville with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Essexville grades A overall, better than 91% of U.S. towns and #64 of 697 in Michigan. It grades A− for health and B+ for schools.
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 B+.
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