Best PlacesBatavia Center, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Batavia Center, 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.
Batavia Center ranks 26,379th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Batavia Center
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.
Batavia Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Batavia Center ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap childcare$576 a month, better than 81% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- Short commute22.6 minutes each way, better than 77% of towns
Where Batavia Center ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Batavia Center
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Batavia Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,212, 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 Batavia Center's effective rate of 1.03%, 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 Batavia Center
Batavia Center runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Batavia Center.
Who works in Batavia Center, and how
Work in Batavia Center centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Batavia Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Batavia Center.
What the weather is like in Batavia Center, month by month
Batavia Center sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 27° | 21° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Batavia Center
The nearest airport, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 93 miles away.
The best schools in and around Batavia Center
Schools across Batavia Center average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ryan Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Union City Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Lakeland Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Union City Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Union City High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Batavia Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Batavia Center 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 Batavia Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Batavia Center
Is Batavia Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Batavia Center ranks 26,379th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, affordable childcare, and civic engagement, and lowest on car insurance costs and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Batavia Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $160,487. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $69,212 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Batavia Center safe?
Yes, Batavia Center is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $199 per resident a year.
Compare Batavia Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Batavia Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Batavia Center 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.
Batavia Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Batavia Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Batavia Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Batavia Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Batavia Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Batavia Center 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.