Best PlacesBenzie County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Benzie County, 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.
Benzie County ranks 1,230th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Benzie 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.
Benzie County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Benzie County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of counties
- QuietBetter than 95% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of counties
Where Benzie County ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Benzie County
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Benzie County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $73,140; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Benzie County's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Benzie County
Benzie 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 Benzie County.
Who works in Benzie County, and how
Work in Benzie County centers on health care & social 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 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Benzie County
Benzie County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of counties and more parkland per resident than 77% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Benzie County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Benzie County growing, and who is moving in?
Benzie County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Traverse City, MI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Benzie County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Benzie County, month by month
Benzie County sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 26° | 22° |
| April | 52° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 78° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 59° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Benzie County
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 151 miles away.
The best schools in and around Benzie County
Schools across Benzie County average a C+, better than 47% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Ann Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Frankfort Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Westwoods Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Benzie Central Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- West Senior HighB · 46% proficient
- Frankfort High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Benzie Central Sr High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Benzie County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Benzie 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 Benzie County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Benzie County
Is Benzie County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Benzie County ranks 1,230th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and civic engagement, and lowest on a weak job market and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Benzie County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $291,293. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $73,140 median income, cost of living beats 63% of counties.
Is Benzie County safe?
Yes, Benzie County is safer than 89% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Benzie County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Benzie County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Benzie 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.
Benzie County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Benzie County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Benzie County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Benzie County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Benzie County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Benzie 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.