Best PlacesBirch Run, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Birch Run, 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.
Birch Run ranks 25,341st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Birch Run
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.
Birch Run's strengths and weaknesses
Where Birch Run ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of towns
Where Birch Run ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Birch Run
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Birch Run home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,179, 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 Birch Run's effective rate of 1.10%, 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 Birch Run
Birch Run runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Birch Run.
Who works in Birch Run, and how
Work in Birch Run centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Birch Run
Birch Run has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Birch Run and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Birch Run, month by month
Birch Run sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Birch Run
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Birch Run
Schools across Birch Run average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lorenz C List SchoolB · 50% proficient
- George A Lacure Elem SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Voyager Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ef Rittmueller Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Highlander Way Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Marshall Greene Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Frankenmuth High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Millington High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Howell High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Birch Run school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Birch Run 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 Birch Run against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Birch Run
Is Birch Run a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Birch Run ranks 25,341st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, heat safety, and walkability, 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 Birch Run expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,818. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $81,179 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Birch Run safe?
Yes, Birch Run is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $312 per resident a year.
Compare Birch Run with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Birch Run. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Birch Run 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.
Birch Run detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Birch Run: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Birch Run: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Birch Run: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Birch Run: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Birch Run 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.