Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town was settled in 1840 and has 9,116 residents today.
A solid town with one catch. Its strongest subject is incomes: the median household earns $106K. What counts against it is walkability. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. At about $380K, a typical home costs 5.2 years of the Kalamazoo metro’s $73K median household income. Overall, that makes an A, good for 77th of 697 in Michigan. Set against the rest, it does better than 89% of U.S. towns. Richland Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Figures: incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Richland Township beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas M Ryan Intermediate School | 3–5 | 698 |
| Richland Elementary School | K–2 | 412 |
| Gull Lake Middle School | 6–8 | 717 |
7,580 counted in 2010 and 8,693 in 2020; an estimated 9,116 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Richland Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 223 in 1880, a low of 223 in 1880, 946 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1907 and 3 maps from 1918 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Richland 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 Richland Township.
Richland Township has better schools than Ross Township or any other neighbor, has less food insecurity than most of Michigan and has added a third more jobs in ten years.
Its A is the best School Grade on its borders; Ross Township (A−) is next.
Of its 5 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason. The public schools here belong to the Gull Lake Community Schools. The largest public high school is Gull Lake High School, with 877 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gull Lake Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 717 | B+ |
| Gull Lake High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 8–12 | Grades 8–12 | 877 | A− |
| Thomas M Ryan Intermediate SchoolTop results in townGrades 3–5 | Grades 3–5 | 698 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Nine in ten households own their home in Richland Township, against 84% in Michigan’s towns and 73% across U.S. towns. Homes in the town are typically worth about $380,000, up 3.2% in a year, 44% above the Michigan typical home. Also worth knowing: the going rate for rent for Richland Township comes to $1,109 a month.
| Richland Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 90% | 84% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,109 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Richland Township’s FEMA risk score stands at 15 of 100. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 46% come from inland flooding and 24% from tornadoes. One declared disaster, in 1999, has brought federal aid to Richland Township households.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its widest gap with Michigan is food insecurity: 9.3% of its 7,052 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.4% statewide.
9.7% of adults have diabetes in Richland Township. CDC measures, 32 in all: Richland Township beats Michigan on 19 and trails on 1. Among adults in the town, 14% say their health is fair or poor and 12% smoke cigarettes.
| Richland Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 34% | 36% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 19% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Richland Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.3% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 5.6% | 8.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.3% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based here grew from 1,335 in 2011 to 1,741.
17% of workers work from home in Richland Township, where Michigan’s towns sit at 10% and U.S. towns at 11%. Richland Township: 2.6% of residents live below the poverty line. Employers in Richland Township added 406 jobs between 2011 and 2021, to 1,741. The top destinations are Kalamazoo (20%), Portage (9%) and Battle Creek (8%).
| Richland Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 2.6% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 17% | 10% | 11% |
| Median household income | $106,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
The share of residents in Richland Township who are under 18: 26%. Adults 18 to 34 are 14% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 24% of residents (19% statewide). This Michigan town is growing: up 4.8% since 2020, to 9,116 residents (2025 estimate). Among adults 25 and older, 40% have a four-year degree or more, against 32% across Michigan.
| Richland Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 26% | 21% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 40% | 26% | 29% |
| Median age | 42.8 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
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.
| Richland Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 15.5% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.2% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.2% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.6% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.3% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.9% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.2% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.9% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.2% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.6% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 24.7% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.5% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.1% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.5% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 15.5% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expect July afternoons of 83° and January nights of 17°, with about 65 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The biggest place to walk is Richland Township Park, 51 acres with 1.3 miles of trail. Across 3 parks and preserves: 4.7 miles of trail. In Richland Township, the trail network density is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Richland Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.6% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Richland Township Park | 1.3 mi | 51 |
| 2. Myers Nature Preserve | — | 51 |
| 3. Richland Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Richland Township. Close and well known come first.
11 mi Theme parkAir Zoo
39 mi Park & preserveNorth Country Trail
5 mi MuseumGilmore Car Museum87K visitors a year19 mi Zoo & aquariumBinder Park Zoo
8 mi MuseumKalamazoo Institute of Arts
27 mi MuseumAmerican Museum of MagicAir Zoo: User:my name, CC BY-SA 3.0 · North Country Trail: Huron-Manistee National Forests, Public domain · Gilmore Car Museum: Kevin S. Forsyth, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kalamazoo Institute of Arts: 72elyod, CC BY-SA 3.0 · American Museum of Magic: rossograph, CC BY-SA 4.0
4 within 15 miles of the center of Richland Township
About 4 of every 100 Richland Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
Where Richland Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
Village in Michigan, United States
Richland is a village in Kalamazoo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, Richland had a population of 946. The village is within Richland Township, about 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Kalamazoo.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Richland Township.
It grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Ross Township (A) comes closest.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richland Township | #77 | A | C+ | — | A | A− |
| Ross Township | #78 | A | B | — | A− | A− |
| South Gull Lake | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cooper Township | #400 | B− | C+ | — | B | B |
| Prairieville Township | #362 | B− | C | — | A− | B |
| Comstock Township | #493 | C+ | C+ | — | C | C+ |
Richland Township, Ross Township, Cooper Township, Prairieville Township and Comstock Township report no FBI crime data of their own. South Gull Lake isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Richland Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Richland Township grades A overall, better than 89% of U.S. towns and #77 of 697 in Michigan. It grades A− for health and A for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
