Best PlacesBerkley, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berkley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Berkley ranks 2,107th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Berkley
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.
Berkley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Berkley ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Berkley ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Berkley
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berkley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $117,613, 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 Berkley's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Berkley
Berkley runs younger 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 Berkley.
Who works in Berkley, and how
Work in Berkley centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Berkley
Berkley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Berkley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Berkley, month by month
Berkley sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Berkley
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 22 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Berkley
Schools across Berkley average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Burton Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Northwood Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Rogers Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Royal Oak Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Anderson Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Royal Oak High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Berkley High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berkley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berkley 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 Berkley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Berkley
Is Berkley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berkley ranks 2,107th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and transit, and lowest on car insurance costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Berkley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $319,425. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $117,613 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Berkley safe?
Berkley is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $365 per resident a year.
Compare Berkley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berkley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berkley 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.
Berkley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berkley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berkley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berkley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berkley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berkley 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.