Rives TownshipMI
A town of 4,794.
Is Rives Township a good place to live?
Rives Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 613th among Michigan's 697 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: a typical home costs about $210K, 3.2 years of the Jackson metro’s $66K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in health: CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 73% of the country. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. Only 52 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns score lower on the outdoors. The biggest park or preserve is Wild 100, at 76 acres.
98% of working residents leave Rives Township for work
Where Rives Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Rives Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Rives Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Rives Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rives 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 Rives Township.
Rives Township sends most of its workers to Jackson and beyond, but it has little public open land.
Most working residents commute out of Rives Township
Rives Township has 189 jobs for its 1,690 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Rives Township for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Jackson (20%), Blackman Township (17%) and Summit Township (5%). Half commute less than 12 miles.
| Rives Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 2.4% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Median household income | $86,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Rives Township’s grade for health is a C
40% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Rives Township, against 34% in Michigan’s towns and 36% across U.S. towns. 19% of adults report frequent mental distress in Rives Township. Rives Township beats the Michigan average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2.
| Rives Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 34% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 27% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 35% |
| What stands out | Rives Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More adults sleeping under 7 hours | 40.4% | 34.7% |
| More adults with arthritis | 32.5% | 29.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
In Rives Township, expect four seasons and pleasant summers
Rives Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. At 82°F, Rives Township’s July high is near the Michigan town median (82°F) and below the median of U.S. towns (85°F).
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Moderate risk in Rives Township, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 60% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
An age mix much like Michigan’s
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Michigan average. Rives Township’s median age is 38 years. 24% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Michigan.
| Rives Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 38 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 24% | 21% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 17% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 24% | 26% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.5 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Rives Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.4% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.9% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.7% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 19% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.6% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.3% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.1% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.1% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.8% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 20% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.9% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16.4% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.7% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,800, single groups can be off by several points
Rives Township has set aside 0.1% of its land for conservation
Just 16 of its 23,074 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Rives Township itself; its outdoors grade is D.
0.9 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wild 100 | — | 76 |
| 2. Meridian-Baseline State Park | — | 17 |
| 3. Maple Grove Bridge Access Site | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Rives Township
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Rives Township
About 3 of every 100 Rives Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Rives Township
Civil township in Michigan, United States
Rives Township is a civil township of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,750 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 36 sq mi
- Elevation
- 978 ft
Rives Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Rives Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rives Township | #613 | C− | B− | — | C+ | C |
| Tompkins Township | #606 | C− | B− | — | C+ | C |
| Henrietta Township | #494 | C+ | B+ | — | B− | C+ |
| Blackman Township | #657 | D | C+ | C− | C+ | C− |
| Leslie Township | — | — | B | — | B | B |
Leslie Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Rives Township, Tompkins Township, Henrietta Township and Leslie Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Rives Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Rives Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Rives Township, MI a good place to live?
Rives Township grades C− overall, better than 17% of U.S. towns and #613 of 697 in Michigan. It grades C for health and C+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Rives 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 B−.