Best PlacesBay County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bay 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.
Bay County ranks 1,909th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on a weak job market and car insurance costs. It does better on walkability, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Bay 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 Bay County
The parts of Bay 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.
Auburn
Incomes run higher, fewer homes sit empty, and prices have run up less.
Pinconning, Kawkawlin & Linwood
Streets are more car-dependent and biking is worse.
Essexville
More households have young kids, though local pay stretches less far.
Bay City
It is noisier and crime runs higher.
Scores across Bay County run from about the 7th to the 69th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Bay County's strengths and weaknesses
Bay County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Walkability, civic engagement, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The one real hole is a weak job market, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and property taxes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Bay County ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of counties
- BikingBetter than 82% of counties
Where Bay County ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bay County
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bay County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,552, 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 Bay County's effective rate of 1.37%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bay County
Bay County 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 Bay County.
Who works in Bay County, and how
Work in Bay County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Bay County
Bay County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 65% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bay County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bay County growing, and who is moving in?
Bay County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Midland, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bay County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bay County, month by month
Bay County sees roughly 87 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 Bay County
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bay County
Schools across Bay County average a C, better than 29% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Adams Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Freeland Elementary SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Mackensen Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Western Middle SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Christa Mcauliffe Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Cramer Junior High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- John Glenn High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Freeland Middle Schoolhigh SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Great Lakes Bay Early CollegeC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bay County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bay 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 Bay County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Bay County suits
Common questions about living in Bay County
Is Bay County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bay County ranks 1,909th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on walkability, civic engagement, and few empty homes, and lowest on a weak job market and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bay County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,511. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $65,552 median income, cost of living beats 47% of counties.
Is Bay County safe?
Bay County is safer than 46% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $393 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bay County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 18. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bay County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Auburn, Pinconning, Kawkawlin & Linwood, and Essexville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Bay County good for families?
Schools beat 29% of counties, crime safety beats 46%, and childcare runs $851 a month.
Is Bay County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 47% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 21% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Bay County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bay County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bay 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.
Bay County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bay County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bay County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bay County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bay County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bay 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.