Best PlacesBerne, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berne, 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.
Berne ranks 33,612th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on short commutes.
The best neighborhoods in Berne
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.
Berne's strengths and weaknesses
Where Berne ranks high
- Short commute21.1 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap childcare$604 a month, better than 78% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 77% of towns
Where Berne ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Berne
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berne home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,318, 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 Berne's effective rate of 1.14%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Berne
Berne's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Berne.
Who works in Berne, and how
Work in Berne 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 91%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Berne
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Berne.
What the weather is like in Berne, month by month
Berne sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Berne
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Berne
Schools across Berne average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Laker ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Laker Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Laker High SchoolC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berne school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berne 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 Berne against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Berne
Is Berne a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berne ranks 33,612th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, low disaster risk, and heat safety, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Berne expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,710. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $70,318 median income, cost of living beats 49% of towns.
Is Berne safe?
Berne is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $577 per resident a year.
Compare Berne with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berne. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berne 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.
Berne detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berne: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berne: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berne: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berne: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berne 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.