Porter TownshipMI
A town of 3,946.
Is Porter Township a good place to live?
Porter Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 589th among Michigan's 697 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: a typical home costs about $301K, 4.5 years of the South Bend metro’s $67K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its schools rank behind 68% of the state's. 28% of residents are 65 or older in Porter Township, against 19% in Michigan’s towns and 18% across U.S. towns. Dr. T.K. Lawless Park, at 177 acres with 8.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
What makes Porter Township stand out
Where Porter Township beats most towns.
94% of working residents leave Porter Township for work
Where Porter Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Porter Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Porter Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Porter Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Porter 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 Porter Township.
Porter Township is a second-home town and sends many workers across the state line to Bristol.
Inland flooding leads a very low hazard risk in Porter Township
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 85% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Porter Township since 2018.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents commute out of Porter Township
54% of working residents cross a state line to work, Bristol among the top destinations. Porter Township has 322 jobs for its 1,716 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Porter Township for work: only 6% work in town. Porter Township’s average trip to work is 21 minutes. The top destinations are Elkhart (24%), Bristol (4%) and Goshen (3%).
| Porter Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
| Porter Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.4% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Dr. T.K. Lawless Park | 8.9 mi | 177 |
| 2. Three Rivers State Game Area | — | 164 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Older than Michigan overall
16.2% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 5.5% statewide, which helps explain the older median age.
People 65 and older are 27% of residents (19% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 15% of residents (22% statewide). The median age in Porter Township is 49.5 years. Porter Township has grown 5.1% since 2020, to 3,946 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Porter Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 49.5 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 20% | 21% | 22% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.6 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Porter Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.8% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.3% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.9% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.5% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 19.8% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.6% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7.4% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.6% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.5% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13.5% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,900, single groups can be off by several points
In Porter Township, expect snowy winters and pleasant summers
Porter Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 41 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Porter Township is less healthy than 63% of U.S. towns
Porter Township beats the Michigan average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 39% of Porter Township adults have high blood pressure.
| Porter Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 36% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 12% | 12% |
| What stands out | Porter Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9.7% | 8.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.5% | 8.9% |
| More adults with heart disease | 8.2% | 7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Everything we know about Porter Township
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Porter Township
About 2 of every 100 Porter Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Porter Township
Civil township in Michigan, United States
Porter Township is a civil township of Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,750 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 55 sq mi
- Elevation
- 912 ft
Porter Township’s neighbors
6 towns share a border with Porter Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porter Township | #589 | C− | C+ | — | C | C+ |
| Mottville Township | — | — | B+ | — | C | C− |
| Mason Township | #465 | C+ | B | — | A− | C |
| Constantine Township | #599 | C− | A− | — | C | C− |
| Newberg Township | — | — | B | — | B | C+ |
| Calvin Township | — | — | A− | — | C | C |
Mottville Township, Newberg Township and Calvin Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Porter Township, Mottville Township, Mason Township, Constantine Township, Newberg Township and Calvin Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Porter Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Porter Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Porter Township, MI a good place to live?
Porter Township grades C− overall, better than 21% of U.S. towns and #589 of 697 in Michigan. It grades C+ for health and C for schools.
Is Porter 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 C+.