Leighton Township is a

civil township A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a County (United States), county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England town, Ne ...

of Allegan County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. The population was 7,001 at the 2020 census, up from 4,934 at the 2010 census.

Communities

Corning is a tiny

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

at near the center of the township and with the township hall nearby. There was a post office operating there from 1882 to 1902. Green Lake was a summer resort at on the eponymous lake, which drains into Green Lake Creek, a tributary of the Rabbit River. A post office operated there from 1899 to 1901. There are now permanent residences around the lake. Moline is an unincorporated community at just east of U.S. Highway 131 exit 68. The ZIP code is 49335. The community lies mostly within neighboring Dorr Township but lies on the boundary, and some development extends into Leighton Township. The city of Wayland is at the southwest corner of the township and has incorporated a small area of land from the township. The Leighton Township Fire Department has 32 part-paid firefighters divided between two stations. The department responds to an average of 150 calls per year.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the township has a total area of , of which is land and , or 2.03%, is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 3,652 people, 1,246 households, and 1,004 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,386 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 97.75%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.11%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.93% Native American, 0.08% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.44% from other races, and 0.66% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.04% of the population. There were 1,246 households, out of which 41.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.4% were non-families. 14.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.93 and the average family size was 3.29. In the township, the population was spread out, with 30.9% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.6 males. The median income for a household in the township was $51,743, and the median income for a family was $57,067. Males had a median income of $42,477 versus $27,679 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the township was $18,736. About 5.2% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 5.8% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

References

{{authority control Townships in Allegan County, Michigan Townships in Michigan