Odessa TownshipMI
Public schools that outperform most of Michigan. The town has 3,966 residents and lies in Michigan.
Is Odessa Township a good place to live?
Schools are its strong suit: its schools outperform nearly four fifths of the state's. It also does well on cost of living: a typical home costs about $197K, 2.4 years of the Grand Rapids metro’s $83K median household income. All told, that adds up to an A− overall and a rank of 130th of 697 in Michigan. On that grade it does better than 83% of U.S. towns. 16% of working residents work locally in Odessa Township, where Michigan’s towns sit at 5.9% and U.S. towns at 8%. Its median age is 35.2 years, against 42.5 years in Michigan’s towns and 40.5 years across U.S. towns. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for health, B− for incomes and B− for walkability.
Figures: schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES · Census LEHD, 2021.
What makes Odessa Township stand out
Where Odessa Township beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Lakewood Elementary School | 1–4 | 461 |
Library visits per resident
How Odessa Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Odessa Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Odessa Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Odessa 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 Odessa Township.
Odessa Township pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices and trades workers with Grand Rapids and other neighbors.
Public schools in Odessa Township beat 79% of Michigan districts
Its A− for schools comes with an A− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $197K.
Its one school is below. The public schools here belong to the Lakewood Public Schools. 461 students attend Odessa Township’s public school.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakewood Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 1–4 | Grades 1–4 | 461 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Odessa Township faces a low natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Odessa Township’s FEMA hazard score is 25 of 100. The national flood insurance program has paid 2 claims in the town since 1986. Expected losses in Odessa Township break down as 49% from inland flooding and 24% from tornadoes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The climate in Odessa Township brings snowy winters and pleasant summers
July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 16° and about 68 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About one in six working residents works right in Odessa Township
Odessa Township has about as many jobs (1,355) as working residents, but only 245 people both live and work here. Jobs based here grew from 1,040 in 2011 to 1,355.
Half commute less than 23 miles. Employers in Odessa Township added 315 jobs between 2011 and 2021, to 1,355. The mean commuting time locally is 27 minutes. The top destinations are Grand Rapids (9%), Ionia (4%) and Lansing (3%).
| Odessa Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Odessa Township has set aside 0.4% of its land for conservation
For Odessa Township, the concentration of trails is 0.1 miles per square mile. 2.4 miles of trail wind through 3 parks and preserves. Parks and preserves locally: 3, covering 18 acres.
| Odessa Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.4% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sports FIeld / Sledding Hill | 0.2 mi | 8 |
| 2. Lake Odessa Village Park | — | 8 |
| 3. Lake Odessa Municipal Beach | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Residents of Odessa Township are less healthy than 51% of U.S. towns
In Odessa Township, 27% of adults have been diagnosed with depression. The town beats the Michigan average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. Among adults locally, 39% have obesity and 18% report frequent mental distress.
| Odessa Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 27% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 34% | 36% |
| What stands out | Odessa Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 7% | 8.7% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.5% | 15.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.8% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Everything we know about Odessa Township
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Odessa Township; the nearest are
About 7 of every 100 Odessa Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
About Odessa Township
Township in Michigan, United States
Odessa Township is a civil township of Ionia County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,918 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 36 sq mi
- Elevation
- 860 ft
Odessa Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Odessa Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Odessa Township | #130 | A− | A− | — | A− | B− |
| Woodland Township | — | — | B+ | — | A− | C |
| Sebewa Township | — | — | A− | — | B+ | B |
| Campbell Township | — | — | B | — | A− | B |
| Berlin Township | — | — | A− | — | A− | C+ |
Woodland Township, Sebewa Township, Campbell Township and Berlin Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Odessa Township, Woodland Township, Sebewa Township, Campbell Township and Berlin Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Odessa Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Odessa Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Odessa Township, MI a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Odessa Township grades A− overall, better than 83% of U.S. towns and #130 of 697 in Michigan. It grades B− for health and A− for schools.
Is Odessa 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−.