Best PlacesBarry County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Barry County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Barry County ranks 1,001st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Barry County
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.
The best areas in Barry County
The parts of Barry County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Middleville
More households have young kids, fewer homes sit empty, and crime runs lower.
Delton
Local pay stretches further and incomes run higher.
Hastings
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Plainwell
Tree cover is thicker, though homes cost more.
Nashville
Commutes are shorter, though fewer residents vote.
Scores across Barry County run from about the 10th to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Barry County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barry County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- QuietBetter than 95% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of counties
Where Barry County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Barry County
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barry County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,362, 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 Barry County's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 Barry County
Barry County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Barry County.
Who works in Barry County, and how
Work in Barry County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Barry County
Barry County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Barry County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Barry County growing, and who is moving in?
Barry County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Grand Rapids, MI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Barry County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Barry County, month by month
Barry County sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Barry County
The nearest airport, Gerald R Ford International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 106 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barry County
Schools across Barry County average a C, better than 39% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Caledonia Elementary SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Alto Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Lee Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kraft Meadows Intermediate SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Duncan Lake Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Gull Lake Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Caledonia High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Gull Lake High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Thornapple Kellogg High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barry County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barry County 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 Barry County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Barry County suits
Families
Schools land around the 39th percentile and crime safety beats 96%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Barry County
Is Barry County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barry County ranks 1,001st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, low crime, and quiet, 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 Barry County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $274,210. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $82,362 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is Barry County safe?
Yes, Barry County is safer than 96% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $231 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Barry County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 19. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Barry County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Middleville, Delton, and Hastings. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Barry County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barry County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barry County 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.
Barry County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barry County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barry County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barry County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barry County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barry County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.