Paradise TownshipMI
A town of 5,101, settled in 1873.
Is Paradise Township a good place to live?
Paradise Township gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $196K, 2.4 years of the Traverse City metro’s $81K median household income. It grades B+ overall, 204th of 697 graded towns in Michigan. On the plus side, its schools outperform 89% of the state's. 32% of residents are under 18 in Paradise Township, where Michigan’s towns sit at 21% and U.S. towns at 22%. East Creek Reserve, at 544 acres with 7.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 73% of U.S. towns.
What makes Paradise Township stand out
Where Paradise Township beats most towns.
94% of working residents leave Paradise Township for work
Where Paradise Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Paradise Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Paradise Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Paradise Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Paradise 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 Paradise Township.
Paradise Township pairs an A for schools with modest home prices, gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
Conserved land covers 4.5% of Paradise Township
69 miles of trail in 9 parks and preserves. The trail density in Paradise Township is 1.3 miles per square mile.
| Paradise Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.5% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit | 42.8 mi | 5,634 |
| 2. East Creek Reserve | 7.4 mi | 544 |
| 3. Mayfield Pond Park | 1.1 mi | 61 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Paradise Township earns an A for schools
Its A for schools comes with a B+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $197K. Its A is the best School Grade on its borders; Mayfield Township (A−) is next.
Its public schools are run by the Kingsley Area Schools. Its three schools are below. The largest public high school is Kingsley Area High School, with 401 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingsley Area Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 655 | A |
| Kingsley Area High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 401 | B− |
| Kingsley Area Middle SchoolTop results in townGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 366 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Paradise Township faces a low natural-hazard risk, led by cold waves
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 79% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Paradise Township since 2012.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
About one in three of Paradise Township’s working residents commute to Traverse City
Paradise Township has 516 jobs for its 1,990 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here fell from 857 in 2011 to 516.
Most working residents leave Paradise Township for work: only 6% work in town. Jobs based in Paradise Township fell to 516 in 2021, 341 fewer than in 2011. Paradise Township’s average trip to work is 28 minutes.
| Paradise Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 6.3% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Paradise Township earns a B+ for cost of living
At 2.4 years of the Traverse City metro’s $81K median household income, the typical home (about $197K) costs less against local pay than in 88% of Michigan towns; that ratio is one input to its B+ for cost of living.
Typical home values rose 5.6% in the year to September 2026.
| Paradise Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 80% | 84% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,080 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
In Paradise Township, expect snowy winters and pleasant summers
The Traverse City Munson weather station, 15 miles away, records that 101 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 97% of U.S. towns.
Paradise Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81° and January nights drop to 13°.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Health in Paradise Township trails 53% of U.S. towns
Paradise Township beats the Michigan average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 18% of adults binge drink in Paradise Township.
| Paradise Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Paradise Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 3.2% | 3.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Everything we know about Paradise Township
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Paradise Township
About 4 of every 100 Paradise Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Paradise Township
Civil township in Michigan, United States
Paradise Township is a civil township of Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,952 at the 2020 census, an increase from 4,713 at the 2010 census. The village of Kingsley is located within the township.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 53 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,053 ft
Paradise Township’s neighbors
5 towns share a border with Paradise Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paradise Township | #204 | B+ | B+ | — | A | B− |
| Blair Township | #284 | B | B− | — | A− | B |
| East Bay Township | #137 | A− | C+ | — | A− | A− |
| Fife Lake Township | — | — | B | — | A− | C |
| Mayfield Township | — | — | A− | — | A− | C+ |
| Greenwood Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Fife Lake Township and Mayfield Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Paradise Township, Blair Township, East Bay Township, Fife Lake Township and Mayfield Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Greenwood Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Paradise Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Paradise Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Paradise Township, MI a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Paradise Township grades B+ overall, better than 74% of U.S. towns and #204 of 697 in Michigan. It grades B− for health and A for schools.
Is Paradise 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 B+.