James TownshipMI
A town of 1,746.
Is James Township a good place to live?
The best of James Township’s subject grades are an A for schools and the outdoors; the weakest is a D for walkability. On hazard risk, just 1 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns do worse. 46% of the land in James Township is conserved, against 4.4% in Michigan’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Shiawassee River State Game Area, at 3,283 acres with 11.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. James Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes James Township stand out
Where James Township beats most towns.
James Township has shrunk 14% since 2010
2,023 counted in 2010 and 1,792 in 2020; an estimated 1,746 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How James Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far James Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to James Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in James 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 James Township.
Nearly a third of James Township is conserved land
23 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. At 1.2 miles per square mile, James Township’s trail density is where Michigan’s towns sit at 0.3 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Shiawassee River State Game Area | 11.4 mi | 3,283 |
| 2. Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge | 6.1 mi | 2,097 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
James Township’s public schools outperform 87% of Michigan districts
Its public schools are run by the Swan Valley School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shields Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 447 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
The FEMA risk score in James Township is higher than in most of Michigan or the rest of the country
The FEMA risk score in James Township is 84 of 100. Since 2013, 52 flood insurance claims have been paid out in James Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of James Township’s workers commute out
Most working residents leave James Township for work: only 3% work in town. Since 2011, James Township has added 24 jobs, to 124 in 2021. James Township’s average trip to work is 28 minutes.
| James Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 5% | 10% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.8% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Snowy winters and pleasant summers in James Township
James Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 16° and about 41 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Residents of James Township are less healthy than 53% of U.S. towns
James Township beats the Michigan average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 14% of James Township adults binge drink.
| James Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 36% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 80% | 79% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 34% | 36% |
| What stands out | James Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9% | 11.9% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.8% | 8.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.7% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
USS Edson and 14 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around James Township. Close and well known come first.
20 mi MuseumUSS Edson
20 mi GardenDow Gardens
30 mi MuseumSloan Museum6 mi Zoo & aquariumChildren's Zoo at Celebration Square
8 mi TheatreTemple Theatre
20 mi MuseumSaginaw Valley Naval Ship MuseumPhoto credits
USS Edson: U.S. Navy, Public domain · Dow Gardens: Chris.Schiemann, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sloan Museum: Amancour, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Temple Theatre: Ian Poellet, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum: John McCullough, CC BY-SA 2.5
_underway_off_Long_Beach,_California_(USA),_circa_in_the_mid-1960s.jpg){kind=link}
Everything we know about James Township
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of James Township
About 2 of every 100 James Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
97% of working residents leave James Township for work
Where James Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
About James Township
Civil township in Michigan, United States
James Township is a civil township of Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,792 at the 2020 Census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 20 sq mi
- Elevation
- 581 ft
James Township’s neighbors
6 towns share a border with James Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Township | — | — | B− | — | A | B− |
| Spaulding Township | — | — | A | — | C− | D− |
| Saginaw · Saginaw Township | #692 | D− | B | D− | C | D− |
| Swan Creek Township | — | — | C+ | — | A− | C+ |
| Thomas Township | #401 | B− | C+ | B− | A− | B |
| Shields | — | — | — | — | — | — |
James Township, Spaulding Township and Swan Creek Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. James Township, Spaulding Township and Swan Creek Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Shields isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Saginaw Township and Saginaw are one community, graded once. Compare James Township with a neighbor →
Questions about James Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is James 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−.