Best PlacesBenton Harbor, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Benton Harbor, 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.
Benton Harbor ranks 47,136th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Benton Harbor
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.
Benton Harbor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Benton Harbor ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute19.6 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
Where Benton Harbor ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Household income$46,590 median, better than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Benton Harbor
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Benton Harbor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $46,590, 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 Benton Harbor's effective rate of 1.06%, 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 Benton Harbor
Benton Harbor's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Benton Harbor.
Who works in Benton Harbor, and how
Work in Benton Harbor centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Benton Harbor
Benton Harbor has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns and more parkland per resident than 81% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Benton Harbor and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Benton Harbor, month by month
Benton Harbor sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Benton Harbor
The nearest airport, South Bend International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Benton Harbor
Schools across Benton Harbor average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clarke SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Lincoln SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Coloma Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Upton Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Watervliet Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Dowagiac Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- St Joseph High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Watervliet Senior High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Coloma High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Benton Harbor school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Benton Harbor 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 Benton Harbor against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Benton Harbor
Is Benton Harbor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Benton Harbor ranks 47,136th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, short commutes, and big-city access, 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 Benton Harbor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $144,938. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $46,590 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Benton Harbor safe?
Benton Harbor is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $794 per resident a year.
Compare Benton Harbor with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Benton Harbor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Benton Harbor 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.
Benton Harbor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Benton Harbor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Benton Harbor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Benton Harbor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Benton Harbor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Benton Harbor 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.