Best PlacesAkron, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Akron, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Akron ranks 27,203rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Akron
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.
Akron's strengths and weaknesses
Where Akron ranks high
- Cheap childcare$550 a month, better than 87% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 77% of towns
- QuietBetter than 77% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 71% of towns
Where Akron ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 21% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 22% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Akron
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Akron home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,616, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Akron's effective rate of 1.15%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Akron
Akron 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 Akron.
Who works in Akron, and how
Work in Akron centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Akron
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Akron.
What the weather is like in Akron, month by month
Akron sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Akron
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 95 miles away.
The best schools in and around Akron
Schools across Akron average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Unionvillesebewaing Elem SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Akronfairgrove Elem SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Unionvillesebewaing Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Unionvillesebewaing High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Akronfairgrove Jrsr High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Akron school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Akron 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 Akron against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Akron
Is Akron a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Akron ranks 27,203rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and quiet, and lowest on car insurance costs and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Akron expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $100,682. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $62,616 median income, cost of living beats 55% of towns.
Is Akron safe?
Yes, Akron is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $280 per resident a year.
Compare Akron with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Akron. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Akron 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.
Akron detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Akron: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Akron: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Akron: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Akron: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Akron 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.