Best Places49460, MI Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 49460, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

49460 ranks 4,311th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.

#4,311
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 49460

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 49460 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

49460's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Low crime
Top 5%Civic engagement
Top 10%Heat safety
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 49460 with other zip codes.

Where 49460 ranks high

  • Crime safetyBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Heat safetyBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of zip codes

Where 49460 ranks low

  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than only 17% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 20% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 22% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 49460

A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 49460 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $104,277; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.

Income to buy the median home
$106,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,471
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $398,780 home
Median rent
$1,153
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,033
Property tax$304
Homeowners insurance$133

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 49460's effective rate of 0.92%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 49460

49460's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
42
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
17%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6420%
65 and older17%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 49460.


Who works in 49460, and how

Work in 49460 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
11%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.8%
about the national average
Job growth
−4.1%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing25%
Health care & social14%
Retail trade10%
Education8%
Construction7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 87%
  • Work from home 11%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 49460

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 49460.


What the weather is like in 49460, month by month

49460 sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January35°28°21°
April59°47°37°
July84°73°61°
October64°54°44°

Flying in and out of 49460

The nearest airport, Muskegon County, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 89 miles away.

Nearest airport
MKG
Muskegon County, about 17 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
1 nonstop destinations
Average drive
24 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 49460

Schools across 49460 average a B−, better than 64% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 49460 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


49460 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 49460 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 49460

Is 49460 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 49460 ranks 4,311th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low crime, civic engagement, and heat safety, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 49460 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $398,780. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $104,277 median income, cost of living beats 85% of zip codes.

Is 49460 safe?

Yes, 49460 is safer than 99% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $153 per resident a year.


Compare 49460 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 49460. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 49460 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

49460 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 49460: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 49460: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 49460: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 49460: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

49460 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.