Best PlacesBrighton, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brighton, 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.
Brighton ranks 651st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brighton
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.
Brighton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brighton ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of cities
Where Brighton ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 11% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 19% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Brighton
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brighton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $122,452, 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 Brighton's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Brighton
Brighton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Brighton.
Who works in Brighton, and how
Work in Brighton centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Brighton
Brighton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brighton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brighton, month by month
Brighton sees roughly 77 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 | 58° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Brighton
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 31 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brighton
Schools across Brighton average a B+, better than 74% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Hornung Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Spencer Road Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Hawkins Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maltby Intermediate SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Scranton Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Hartland Farms Intermediate SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Brighton High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Hartland High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Milford High SchoolB · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brighton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brighton 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 Brighton against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Brighton suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of cities and 20% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Brighton
Is Brighton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brighton ranks 651st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and heat safety, and lowest on car insurance costs and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brighton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $393,844. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $122,452 median income, cost of living beats 80% of cities.
Is Brighton safe?
Yes, Brighton is safer than 80% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brighton?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 20. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 39% of cities.
Is Brighton good for families?
Schools beat 74% of cities, crime safety beats 80%, and childcare runs $976 a month.
Compare Brighton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brighton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brighton 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.
Brighton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brighton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brighton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brighton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brighton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brighton 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.