Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Gratis Township gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $215K for a typical one, or 3.1 years of the county’s $69K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 762nd among Ohio's 987 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 79% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 89% of U.S. towns. 16% of residents are under 18 in Gratis Township, against 22% in Ohio’s towns and 22% across U.S. towns. Brubaker Covered Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Gratis Township beats most towns.
Where Gratis Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Ohio), ordered by how far Gratis Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 462 in 1860, 842 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 3 maps from 1911 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gratis 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 Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Gratis Township.
31% of adults get no exercise outside work in Gratis Township. Gratis Township beats the Ohio average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 18% of adults smoke cigarettes in Gratis Township.
| Gratis Township | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 28% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 38% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 38% | 35% |
| What stands out | Gratis Township | OH |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9.6% | 8% |
| More smokers | 18% | 15.4% |
| More adults with heart disease | 8.1% | 7.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Preble Shawnee Local school district. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Preble Shawnee High School High School, with 345 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preble Shawnee Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 421 | – |
| Preble Shawnee High School High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 345 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OH on state tests and graduation
Gratis Township has 303 jobs for its 1,472 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Gratis Township for work: only 6% work in town. The average trip to work in Gratis Township is 29 minutes. Jobs based in Gratis Township fell to 303 in 2023, 32 fewer than in 2013.
| Gratis Township | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 9.1% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $89,000 | $75,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.5% | 6.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Gratis Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 21° and about 10 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 60% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gratis Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw23 mi Theme parkKings Island3.5M visitors a year
25 mi MuseumNational Museum of the United States Air Force1.0M visitors a year
36 mi Stadium & arenaPaycor Stadium
36 mi Stadium & arenaGreat American Ball Park
33 mi Stadium & arenaNippert Stadium
39 mi MuseumCreation Museum1.2M visitors a yearKings Island: Eli Duke from Portland, OR, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · National Museum of the United States Air Force: No machine-readable author provided. Rogerd assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0 · Paycor Stadium: JonRidinger, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Great American Ball Park: Eric Kilby profile at Flickr website, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Nippert Stadium: Ben Levin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Creation Museum: Creashin at English Wikipedia, Public domain
2 within 15 miles of the center of Gratis Township
About 5 of every 100 Gratis Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Ohio.
Village in Ohio, United States
Gratis is a village in Preble County, Ohio, United States. The population was 842 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Gratis Township.
| Town | OH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gratis Township · Gratis | #762 | C+ | A− | — | C+ | C− |
| Lanier Township | #644 | B− | B+ | — | B | C |
| Somers Township | #788 | C | A− | — | C+ | C− |
| Wayne Township | #617 | B− | B+ | — | B− | C |
| Madison Township | #780 | C | B− | — | B | C− |
| German Township | #481 | B | B− | — | B | B |
Gratis Township, Lanier Township, Somers Township, Wayne Township, Madison Township and German Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Gratis and Gratis Township are one community, graded once. Compare Gratis Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Gratis Township grades C+ overall, better than 36% of U.S. towns and #762 of 987 in Ohio. It grades C− for health and C+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
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 A−.
