Sands TownshipMI
A town of 2,363, settled in 1878.
Is Sands Township a good place to live?
Sands Township’s best subject grades are a B+ for the outdoors and cost of living; its weakest is a C for schools. 29% of residents are under 18 in Sands Township, where Michigan’s towns sit at 21% and U.S. towns at 22%. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. Sands Township’s trail density is 2.4 miles per square mile, above both the Michigan town median (0.3) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4). Only 47 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns score lower on history. The biggest place to walk is Honor Camp Park, 420 acres with 5 miles of trail. Sands Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
96% of working residents leave Sands Township for work
Where Sands Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Sands Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Sands Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Sands Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sands 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 Sands Township.
Fewer young adults than Michigan overall
37% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Sands Township. Sands Township has grown 2.6% since 2020, to 2,363 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Sands Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 26% | 29% |
| Median age | 42.6 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±6.5 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Sands Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 15.3% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.8% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.2% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 4.8% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.4% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 16.1% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.5% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.1% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.8% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.2% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.8% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.3% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.9% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25.8% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.1% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,400, single groups can be off by several points
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery Central PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades PK–K | Grades PK–K | 47 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Sands Township has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Most working residents leave Sands Township for work: only 4% work in town. Sands Township’s average trip to work is 18 minutes. Jobs based in Sands Township grew to 335 in 2021, 132 more than in 2011.
| Sands Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $87,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 7.5% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.2% | 5.9% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Cold waves leads a low hazard risk in Sands Township
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 69% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Snowy winters and pleasant summers in Sands Township
Sands Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Sands Township is 78°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Escanaba River State Forest - Gwinn Unit (South) | 32.4 mi | 6,634 |
| 2. Honor Camp Park | 5 mi | 420 |
| 3. Heartwood Forestland | 0.4 mi | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Sands Township is healthier than 50% of U.S. towns
Sands Township tracks Michigan closely on all 32 CDC measures. 31% of Sands Township adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Sands Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 34% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Everything we know about Sands Township
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Sands Township
About 3 of every 100 Sands Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Sands Township
Unincorporated community in Michigan, United States
Sands is an unincorporated community in Marquette County, Michigan, United States. The community is located within Sands Township. As an unincorporated community, Sands has no legally defined boundaries or population statistics of its own.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Sands Township’s neighbors
7 towns share a border with Sands Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sands Township | — | — | B+ | — | C | B− |
| Forsyth Township | #461 | C+ | A− | B+ | C | C+ |
| Richmond Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Marquette Township | #407 | B− | D | — | A− | B |
| Chocolay Township | #176 | A− | B | A− | A− | B |
| Harvey | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Marquette | #310 | B | C− | B+ | A− | B |
| Negaunee Township | #331 | B | C | — | A | B+ |
Sands Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Sands Township, Marquette Township and Negaunee Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Richmond Township and Harvey aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Sands Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Sands Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Sands 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+.