Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,780, settled in 1855. 25% more nonprofits per person than the typical Michigan town.
Trash day: look up yoursSt. Johns gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $293K for a typical one, or 4 years of the Lansing metro’s $73K median household income. It grades A overall, 97th of 697 graded towns in Michigan. On the plus side, its schools outperform 82% of the state's. 21% of working residents work locally in St. Johns, above both the Michigan town median (5.9%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Giles J. Gibbs Building-Sugar Bowl is on the National Register of Historic Places. St. Johns is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns.
Where St. Johns beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway Elementary School | PK–5 | 320 |
| Oakview Elementary School | PK–5 | 313 |
| St. Joseph Catholic School | K–6 | 199 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far St. Johns is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,370 in 1880, 7,698 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1867.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in St. Johns, 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 St. Johns.
St. Johns pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and trades workers with Lansing and other neighbors.
Its A− for schools comes with a B+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $293K.
Its public schools are run by the St. Johns Public Schools. The largest public high school is St Johns High School, with 790 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Johns Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 584 | B |
| St Johns High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 790 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
1.9 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. City of St Johns Park, at 68 acres with 1.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| St. Johns | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.6% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. City of St Johns Park | 1.5 mi | 68 |
| 2. Senior Citizen Park | — | 4 |
| 3. St Johns Rotary Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 80% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Violent crime is rare: 10 reported in 2025, 1.3 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Johns has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 16° and about 50 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
St. Johns has about as many jobs (3,743) as working residents, but only 701 people both live and work here.
About one in 5 of St. The average trip to work in St. Johns is 20 minutes. Since 2011, St. Johns has lost 841 jobs, to 3,743 in 2021.
| St. Johns | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 18% | 10% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $69,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (22% statewide). 22% of St. Johns residents are 65 or older. 26% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Michigan.
| St. Johns | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 44.3 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 23% | 21% | 22% |
53% women, 47% men
About 88 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.2 points). Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| St. Johns | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.7% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.9% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.1% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.8% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.4% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.2% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.9% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 28% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.3% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13.2% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.7% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.7% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Typical home values rose 5.7% in the year to September 2026. The typical St. St. Johns’ median rent is $887 a month.
| St. Johns | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 70% | 84% | 73% |
| Median rent | $887 a month | $1,047 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Against the 10,424 U.S. towns with household incomes like St. Johns’s, it is healthier than 70%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
30% of adults sleep under 7 hours in St. Johns. Johns beats the Michigan average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 29% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in St. Johns.
| St. Johns | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 34% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 27% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 80% | 80% | 79% |
| What stands out | St. Johns | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12.9% | 10.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.9% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around St. Johns. Close and well known come first.
40 mi Park & preserveNorth Country Trail
19 mi MuseumEli and Edythe Broad Art Museum150K visitors a year
20 mi Zoo & aquariumPotter Park Zoo
19 mi MuseumR. E. Olds Transportation Museum
19 mi GardenW. J. Beal Botanical Garden
19 mi MuseumImpression 5 Science CenterNorth Country Trail: Huron-Manistee National Forests, Public domain · Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum: Dj1997, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Potter Park Zoo: Dj1997, CC BY-SA 3.0 · R. E. Olds Transportation Museum: kennethaw88, CC BY 4.0 · W. J. Beal Botanical Garden: Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Impression 5 Science Center: Dj1997, CC BY-SA 3.0
None within 15 miles of St. Johns; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 St. Johns residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
8 notable people were born in St. Johns.
City in Michigan, United States
St. Johns or Saint Johns is the largest city in and the county seat of Clinton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 7,698 at the 2020 census. St. Johns is located in the north of Clinton County, surrounded by Bingham Township (although the two are administered independently). St. Johns is about 18 miles (29 km) north of Lansing, Michigan's capital city, and is part of the Lansing–East Lansing metropolitan area. St. Johns has been nicknamed the "Mint Capital of the World".
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. St. Johns grades A overall, better than 87% of U.S. towns and #97 of 697 in Michigan. It grades B− for health, B+ for safety and A− for schools.
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+.
St. 8 notable people were born here, including Leo Burnett and Robert Asprin.
