Best Places49636, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 49636, 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.
49636 ranks 3,958th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 49636
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.
49636's strengths and weaknesses
Where 49636 ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than 97% of zip codes
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of zip codes
Where 49636 ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 49636
A household needs to earn about $254,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 49636 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $109,227, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 49636's effective rate of 0.53%, 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.
Who lives in 49636
49636 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 49636.
Who works in 49636, and how
Work in 49636 centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in 49636
49636 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 49636 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 49636, month by month
49636 sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 26° | 22° |
| April | 52° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 78° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 59° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of 49636
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 165 miles away.
The best schools in and around 49636
Schools across 49636 average a B−, better than 50% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Ann Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Westwoods Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Long Lake Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 49636 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
49636 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 49636 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 49636
Is 49636 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 49636 ranks 3,958th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on health care access, low disaster risk, and quiet, and lowest on car insurance costs and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 49636 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,007,606. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $109,227 median income, cost of living beats 92% of zip codes.
Is 49636 safe?
49636 is safer than 52% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $321 per resident a year.
Compare 49636 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 49636. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 49636 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.
49636 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 49636: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 49636: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 49636: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 49636: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
49636 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.