Porter TownshipMI
A town of 2,494, settled in 1849.
Is Porter Township a good place to live?
Porter Township’s best subject grades are a B for civic life and history; its weakest is a C− for walkability. 30% of residents are 65 or older in Porter Township, against 19% in Michigan’s towns and 18% across U.S. towns. Homes are expensive, about $307K for a typical one and 4.5 times the county’s $68K median household income. The biggest park or preserve is Cornish State Game Area, at 465 acres. Porter Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Porter Township stand out
Where Porter Township beats most towns.
98% 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.
Most of Porter Township’s workers commute out: the town has 0.1 jobs for each of them
Most working residents leave Porter Township for work: only 2% work in town. Since 2011, Porter Township has added 30 jobs, to 97 in 2021. The top destinations are Portage (11%), Kalamazoo (11%) and Antwerp Township (10%).
| Porter Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1.9% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Work from home | 9.4% | 10% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.9% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Older than Michigan overall
At 54.8 years, Porter Township’s median age is above both the Michigan town median (42.5 years) and the median of U.S. towns (40.5 years). Porter Township has lost 2.8% of its people since 2020, down to 2,494 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 28% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Michigan.
| Porter Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 54.8 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 28% | 26% | 29% |
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 ±3.1 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Porter Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.9% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.9% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.4% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.1% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 6.8% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.2% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 19.6% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 19.6% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.4% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.8% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.9% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 27.8% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.1% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.3% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,500, single groups can be off by several points
Inland flooding leads a low hazard risk in Porter Township
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 71% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
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 53% of U.S. towns
Porter Township beats the Michigan average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 28% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Porter Township.
| Porter Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 34% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 33% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 37% | 35% |
| What stands out | Porter Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.7% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 7.3% | 8.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Porter Township has set aside 1.5% of its land for conservation
1.3 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cornish State Game Area | 0.2 mi | 465 |
| 2. Bankson Lake Bog Nature Sanctuary | — | 40 |
| 3. Cedar Lake Public Access | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Notre Dame Stadium and 18 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Porter Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaNotre Dame Stadium
15 mi Theme parkAir Zoo
36 mi CaveGrotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, Notre Dame
31 mi Ancient siteFort St. Joseph
30 mi MuseumGilmore Car Museum87K visitors a year
38 mi MuseumStudebaker National MuseumPhoto credits
Notre Dame Stadium: Tysto, Public domain · Air Zoo: User:my name, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, Notre Dame: Know1one1, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort St. Joseph: Chris Light (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gilmore Car Museum: Kevin S. Forsyth, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Studebaker National Museum: Unknown, Public domain
Everything we know about Porter Township
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Porter Township
About 1 of every 100 Porter Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Porter Township
Township in Michigan, United States
Porter Township is a civil township of Van Buren County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,568 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 35 sq mi
- Elevation
- 928 ft
Porter Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Porter Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porter Township | — | — | C | — | B− | B− |
| Decatur Township | #474 | C+ | A− | — | B− | C |
| Antwerp Township | #196 | B+ | B | — | A− | B− |
| Prairie Ronde Township | — | — | C+ | — | A | A− |
| Marcellus Township | — | — | A− | — | B | C+ |
Porter Township, Prairie Ronde Township and Marcellus Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Porter Township, Decatur Township, Antwerp Township, Prairie Ronde Township and Marcellus 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 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.