Mills TownshipMI
A town of 4,054.
Is Mills Township a good place to live?
Mills Township gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $82K, 1.5 years of the county’s $55K median household income. It grades C− overall, 627th among Michigan's 697 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $42K, and 30% of residents live below the poverty line, and residents are less healthy than 92% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. On the plus side, it has 33 miles of trail. 31% of residents live below the poverty line in Mills Township, against 8.9% in Michigan’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Only 26 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns score lower on history. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 80% of U.S. towns.
96% of working residents leave Mills Township for work
Where Mills Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Mills Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Mills Township is from typical.
Its grades run from A for cost of living (better than 90% of comparable towns) to D− for jobs and income (better than 1%), so the C− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Mills Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mills 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 Mills Township.
Mills Township is a second-home town, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and sends most of its workers to West Branch and beyond.
Conserved land covers 15.5% of Mills Township
The trail density in Mills Township is 0.9 miles per square mile. The biggest park or preserve is Elbow Lake Township Park, at 31 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Au Sable State Forest - Roscommon Unit | 7.4 mi | 1,373 |
| 2. Elbow Lake Township Park | 0.1 mi | 31 |
| 3. Newman Park | — | 20 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Mills Township stands out in Michigan and nationally: a larger share of its adults report frequent physical distress
Against the 3,073 U.S. towns with household incomes like Mills Township’s, it is less healthy than 66%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income.
19% of adults report frequent physical distress in Mills Township. Mills Township beats the Michigan average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 16. 26% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Mills Township.
| Mills Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 14% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 45% | 36% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 12% | 12% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Mills Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 81.2% | 77.6% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 17.7% | 10.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The median household income in Mills Township is lower than in the typical Michigan or U.S. town
Mills Township has 131 jobs for its 1,168 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 35.3 minutes, against 24.2 across Michigan.
Mills Township’s average trip to work is 35 minutes. Most working residents leave Mills Township for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are West Branch (10%), West Branch Township (7%) and Standish (5%).
| Mills Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 35 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $42,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.1% | 5.9% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Low risk in Mills Township, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 68% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Snowy winters and pleasant summers in Mills Township
Mills Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 13° and about 53 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Everything we know about Mills Township
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Mills Township; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Mills Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Mills Township
Civil township in Michigan, United States
Mills Township is a civil township of Ogemaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,973 at the 2020 census, making it the county's most populated municipality.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 36 sq mi
- Elevation
- 810 ft
Mills Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Mills Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mills Township | #627 | C− | A | — | C+ | D |
| Richland Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Churchill Township | — | — | A | — | B+ | D |
| Skidway Lake | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Horton Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Churchill Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Mills Township and Churchill Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Richland Township, Skidway Lake and Horton Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Mills Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Mills Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Mills Township, MI a good place to live?
Mills Township grades C− overall, better than 15% of U.S. towns and #627 of 697 in Michigan. It grades D for health and C+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D−.