Best PlacesAuburn, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Auburn, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Auburn ranks 15,900th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Auburn
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.
Auburn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Auburn ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 86% of towns
Where Auburn ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Auburn
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Auburn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,209, 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 Auburn's effective rate of 1.27%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Auburn
Auburn 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 Auburn.
Who works in Auburn, and how
Work in Auburn centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Auburn
Auburn has more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Auburn and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Auburn, month by month
Auburn sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Auburn
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Auburn
Schools across Auburn average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine River Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Mackensen Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Auburn Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northeast Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Western Middle SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Midland High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Bay City Western High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Auburn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Auburn 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 Auburn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Auburn
Is Auburn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Auburn ranks 15,900th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, civic engagement, and walkability, 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 Auburn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,108. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $88,209 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Auburn safe?
Yes, Auburn is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 per resident a year.
Compare Auburn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Auburn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Auburn 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.
Auburn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Auburn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Auburn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Auburn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Auburn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Auburn 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.