Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,766.
Morton Township grades D overall, 679th among Michigan's 697 graded towns, mostly because of incomes. The median household income is $73K, and 17% of residents live below the poverty line. In its favor, it has 18 miles of trail. 38% of residents are 65 or older in Morton Township, where Michigan’s towns sit at 19% and U.S. towns at 18%. On hazard risk, just 27 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns do worse. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 80% of U.S. towns.
Where Morton Township’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 Morton Township is from typical.
Its best grade is an A− for civic life (3 community nonprofits per 1,000 residents), which describes the town but isn’t part of the overall grade; its D comes from the livability subjects above.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 471 in 1880, a low of 471 in 1880, 4,426 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 1900 and 2 maps from 1958 on.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Morton 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Morton Township.
Morton Township is a second-home town, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Michigan (mostly strong winds).
28.9% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 5.5% statewide, which helps explain the older median age.
The median age in Morton Township is 58.5 years. Morton Township has grown 7.8% since 2020, to 4,766 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 13% of Morton Township residents are under 18.
| Morton Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 58.5 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 13% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 26% | 29% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.8 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Morton Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.1% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.4% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.5% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.8% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 8.6% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 8.4% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 17% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 23.8% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 14.5% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.3% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 31.1% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.2% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.7% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.8% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,800, single groups can be off by several points
Its public schools are run by the Chippewa Hills School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mecosta Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 256 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
The biggest place to walk is School Section Lake Veteran's Park, 86 acres with 1.5 miles of trail.
| Morton Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.4% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. School Section Lake Veteran's Park | 1.5 mi | 86 |
| 2. Lake Mecosta Public Access | — | 7 |
| 3. Canadian Lakes | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Most working residents leave Morton Township for work: only 9% work in town. Jobs based in Morton Township fell to 631 in 2021, 132 fewer than in 2011. The top destinations are Big Rapids (12%), Grand Rapids (8%) and Mount Pleasant (4%).
| Morton Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 15% | 10% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 9.1% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Median household income | $73,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Morton Township beats the Michigan average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 43% of adults have high blood pressure in Morton Township.
| Morton Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 36% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 12% | 12% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 16% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 80% | 79% |
| What stands out | Morton Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 81.9% | 77.6% |
| More adults with heart disease | 10% | 7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 98% of Michigan towns, with expected losses of about $844 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Morton Township’s FEMA risk score is 71 of 100.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Morton Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 14° and about 61 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
1 within 15 miles of the center of Morton Township
About 2 of every 100 Morton Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
Township in Michigan, United States
Morton Township is a civil township of Mecosta County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,426 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Morton Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morton Township | #679 | D | C | — | B− | C |
| Austin Township | — | — | A− | — | C+ | C |
| Canadian Lakes | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Martiny Township | — | — | B+ | — | B− | C |
| Hinton Township | — | — | A− | — | B | C− |
| Wheatland Township | — | — | B+ | — | B− | C− |
Austin Township, Martiny Township, Hinton Township and Wheatland Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Morton Township, Austin Township, Martiny Township, Hinton Township and Wheatland Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Canadian Lakes isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Morton Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Morton Township grades D overall, better than 6% of U.S. towns and #679 of 697 in Michigan. It grades C for health and B− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.