Best PlacesBig Rapids, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Rapids, 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.
Big Rapids ranks 26,201st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Big Rapids
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.
Big Rapids' strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Rapids ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute17.9 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
Where Big Rapids ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Rapids
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Rapids home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,631, 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 Big Rapids' effective rate of 1.05%, 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 Big Rapids
Big Rapids 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 Big Rapids.
Who works in Big Rapids, and how
Work in Big Rapids centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Big Rapids
Big Rapids has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Big Rapids and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Big Rapids, month by month
Big Rapids sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 18° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Big Rapids
The nearest airport, Muskegon County, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 132 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Rapids
Schools across Big Rapids average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverview Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Gt Norman Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Evart Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Big Rapids Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Reed City Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Chippewa Hills Intermediate SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Big Rapids High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Crossroads Charter Academy 612C · 32% proficient
- Chippewa Hills High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Rapids school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Rapids 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 Big Rapids against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Rapids
Is Big Rapids a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Rapids ranks 26,201st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, walkability, and short commutes, 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 Big Rapids expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $189,276. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $60,631 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Big Rapids safe?
Big Rapids is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $371 per resident a year.
Compare Big Rapids with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Rapids. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Rapids 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.
Big Rapids detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Rapids: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Rapids: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Rapids: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Rapids: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Rapids 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.