Summit TownshipMI
A town of 22,705.
Is Summit Township a good place to live?
Summit Township earns a D, 647th of 697 graded towns in Michigan, mostly because of health. Residents are less healthy than 79% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. In its favor, natural-hazard risk is low. On civic life, just 53 of Michigan’s 1,265 towns do worse. Summit Township is home to Jackson College. Summit Township’s average trip to work is 19 minutes, where Michigan’s towns sit at 25 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes.
What makes Summit Township stand out
Where Summit Township beats most towns.
Jackson College calls Summit Township home
How Summit Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Summit Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Summit Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Summit 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 Summit Township.
Summit Township earns a C− for health
42% of Summit Township adults sleep under 7 hours. Summit Township beats the Michigan average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 41% of Summit Township adults have obesity.
| Summit Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 34% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 37% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 36% | 35% |
| What stands out | Summit Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 12.7% | 10.2% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.5% | 8.7% |
| More adults sleeping under 7 hours | 41.5% | 34.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Public schools in Summit Township fall behind 73% of Michigan districts
Two of its 10 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paragon Charter AcademyLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 627 | B |
| Jackson Preparatory Early CollegeLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 260 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Summit Township has set aside 5.6% of its land for conservation
9.6 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. Dahlem Environmental Education Center, at 286 acres with 6.1 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Summit Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.6% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Dahlem Environmental Education Center | 6.1 mi | 286 |
| 2. Sparks Foundation County Park | 0.6 mi | 80 |
| 3. Ella Sharp Park | 0.4 mi | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Most of Summit Township’s workers commute out: the town has 0.7 jobs for each of them
Most working residents leave Summit Township for work: only 10% work in town. Since 2011, Summit Township has added 569 jobs, to 6,086 in 2021. The median household income in Summit Township is $66,000.
| Summit Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $66,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 9.8% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.7% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 9.5% | 10% | 11% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Inland flooding leads a low hazard risk in Summit Township
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 74% of U.S. communities. Since 1982, 7 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Summit Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Summit Township has snowy winters and pleasant summers
Summit Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 17° and about 44 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Older than Michigan overall
People 65 and older are 25% of residents (19% statewide). Summit Township’s median age is 45.8 years. 30% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Michigan.
| Summit Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 25% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 45.8 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 30% | 26% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Summit Township | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.6% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.7% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.5% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.6% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.5% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.5% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.9% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 11.7% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.2% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.1% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.5% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.2% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.9% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.2% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Michigan Stadium and 25 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Summit Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaMichigan Stadium
39 mi Park & preserveDomino's Farms
37 mi MuseumEli and Edythe Broad Art Museum150K visitors a year
36 mi TheatreMichigan Theater
28 mi MuseumAmerican Museum of Magic
36 mi MuseumUniversity of Michigan Museum of ArtPhoto credits
Michigan Stadium: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Domino's Farms: Dwight Burdette, CC BY 3.0 · Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum: Dj1997, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Michigan Theater: mrkumm, CC BY 2.0 · American Museum of Magic: rossograph, CC BY-SA 4.0 · University of Michigan Museum of Art: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Everything we know about Summit Township
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Summit Township
About 5 of every 100 Summit Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
90% of working residents leave Summit Township for work
Where Summit Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
About Summit Township
Civil township in Michigan, United States
Summit Township is a civil township of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 22,920 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 30 sq mi
- Elevation
- 958 ft
Summit Township’s neighbors
7 towns share a border with Summit Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summit Township | #647 | D | B− | — | C | C− |
| Jackson | #678 | D | B+ | D− | C | D− |
| Spring Arbor Township | #39 | A | B− | A | A− | B |
| Blackman Township | #657 | D | C+ | C− | C+ | C− |
| Liberty Township | #304 | B | B+ | — | B+ | C+ |
| Vandercook Lake | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Napoleon Township | #403 | B− | B | — | B | C |
| Leoni Township | #532 | C | B | — | C | C |
Summit Township, Liberty Township, Napoleon Township and Leoni Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Vandercook Lake isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Summit Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Summit Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Summit Township, MI a good place to live?
Summit Township grades D overall, better than 13% of U.S. towns and #647 of 697 in Michigan. It grades C− for health and C for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Summit Township, MI expensive?
The typical home is worth about $197,000. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.