Best PlacesBoyne Falls, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Boyne Falls, 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.
Boyne Falls ranks 19,612th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Boyne Falls
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.
Boyne Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Where Boyne Falls ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 81% of towns
Where Boyne Falls ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Boyne Falls
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boyne Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,003, 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 Boyne Falls' effective rate of 0.77%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Boyne Falls
Boyne Falls runs older 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 Boyne Falls.
Who works in Boyne Falls, and how
Work in Boyne Falls centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Boyne Falls
Boyne Falls has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Boyne Falls and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Boyne Falls, month by month
Boyne Falls sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 14° |
| April | 53° | 41° | 30° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 56° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Boyne Falls
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 216 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boyne Falls
Schools across Boyne Falls average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Boyne City Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Sheridan SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Ottawa Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Petoskey Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Boyne City Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Petoskey High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Boyne City High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Wolverine Middlehigh SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boyne Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boyne Falls 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 Boyne Falls against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Boyne Falls
Is Boyne Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boyne Falls ranks 19,612th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and civic engagement, and lowest on car insurance costs and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Boyne Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $245,449. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $81,003 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Boyne Falls safe?
Yes, Boyne Falls is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $260 per resident a year.
Compare Boyne Falls with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boyne Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boyne Falls 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.
Boyne Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boyne Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boyne Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boyne Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boyne Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boyne Falls 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.