Best PlacesBerrien Springs, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berrien Springs, 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.
Berrien Springs ranks 12,090th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Berrien Springs
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.
Berrien Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Berrien Springs ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
Where Berrien Springs ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 25% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Berrien Springs
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berrien Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,222, 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 Berrien Springs' effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Berrien Springs
Berrien Springs 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 Berrien Springs.
Who works in Berrien Springs, and how
Work in Berrien Springs centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Berrien Springs
Berrien Springs has more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Berrien Springs and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Berrien Springs, month by month
Berrien Springs 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 Berrien Springs
The nearest airport, South Bend International, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Berrien Springs
Schools across Berrien Springs average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hollywood Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Moccasin Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Sylvester Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lakeshore Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Berrien Springs Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Ring Lardner Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Lakeshore High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Berrien Springs High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Buchanan High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berrien Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berrien Springs 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 Berrien Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Berrien Springs
Is Berrien Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berrien Springs ranks 12,090th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, low disaster risk, and biking, and lowest on car insurance costs and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Berrien Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $236,678. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $71,222 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Berrien Springs safe?
Yes, Berrien Springs is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $286 per resident a year.
Compare Berrien Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berrien Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berrien Springs 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.
Berrien Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berrien Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berrien Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berrien Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berrien Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berrien Springs 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.