Watersmeet TownshipMI
A town of 1,481, platted in 1884. 2.8 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Michigan town.
Is Watersmeet Township a good place to live?
Watersmeet Township’s best subject grades are an A+ for civic life and an A for the outdoors; its weakest is a C− for schools. 45% of residents are 65 or older in Watersmeet Township, where Michigan’s towns sit at 19% and U.S. towns at 18%. Of the 667 Michigan towns we compare, none has a lower median rent than Watersmeet Township. 75% of the land in Watersmeet Township is conserved, where Michigan’s towns sit at 4.4% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Sylvania Wilderness, at 18,293 acres with 30.1 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. On civic life, just 55 of Michigan’s 1,265 towns do better. Watersmeet Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Watersmeet Township stand out
Where Watersmeet Township beats most towns.
Community nonprofits per 1,000 residents
1,481 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
How Watersmeet Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Watersmeet Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Watersmeet Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Watersmeet 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 Watersmeet Township.
Nearly a third of Watersmeet Township is conserved land
254 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. The trail density in Watersmeet Township is 0.9 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ottawa National Forest - Watersmeet Ranger District | 163.8 mi | 131,762 |
| 2. Sylvania Wilderness | 30.1 mi | 18,293 |
| 3. Ontonagon Wild And Scenic River | 22.4 mi | 9,612 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Public schools in Watersmeet Township fall behind 78% of Michigan districts
Its public schools are run by the Watersmeet Township School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watersmeet Township SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades K–12 | Grades K–12 | 130 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests
With 1.6 jobs for every working resident, Watersmeet Township draws in 505 commuters
About one in 4 of Watersmeet Township’s working residents works in town. Since 2011, Watersmeet Township has added 173 jobs, to 606 in 2021. Watersmeet Township’s average trip to work is 22 minutes.
| Watersmeet Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 27% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 7.4% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $73,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Inland flooding leads a very low hazard risk in Watersmeet Township
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 88% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Compared with most of Michigan and the rest of the country, a typical July afternoon in Watersmeet Township is cooler
Watersmeet Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 77°, January nights drop to 3° and about 126 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
A larger share of adults in Watersmeet Township have high blood pressure than in the typical Michigan or U.S. town
46% of adults have high blood pressure in Watersmeet Township. Watersmeet Township beats the Michigan average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 8. 16% of adults have diabetes in Watersmeet Township.
| Watersmeet Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 46% | 36% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 12% | 12% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 17% | 16% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 85% | 80% | 79% |
| What stands out | Watersmeet Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.6% | 10.2% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9.4% | 11.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 13.5% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
A typical Watersmeet Township home is worth about $297K
The typical Watersmeet Township home is worth about $297,000, up 4.4% in a year, 13% above the Michigan typical home. 95% of Watersmeet Township households own their home.
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Crime reported in Watersmeet Township
Watersmeet Township's reported crime rate is well below Michigan's. Among 280 Michigan towns, just 1 have a lower property crime rate than Watersmeet Township. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Watersmeet Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2022) | 0.7 per 1,000 residents | 10.5 | 14.1 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2022) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 2.1 | 1.9 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2022 · crimes reported to police
Everything we know about Watersmeet Township
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Watersmeet Township; the nearest are
About 1 of every 100 Watersmeet Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
Every workday, about 505 people come to Watersmeet Township for work
Where Watersmeet Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
About Watersmeet Township
Census-designated place & unincorporated community in Michigan, United States
Watersmeet is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Watersmeet Township, Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 408, out of a total population in the township of 1,456. The community was platted in 1884, designated as a station of the Milwaukee Lake Shore and Western Railroad.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 9.2 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,604 ft
- ZIP code
- 49969
Questions about Watersmeet Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Watersmeet Township, MI a good place to live?
2.8 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Michigan town.
Is Watersmeet Township, MI expensive?
That is 5.6 years of the area's median household income ($52,732 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.