Best PlacesBurt Lake, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Burt Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Burt Lake ranks 28,755th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Burt Lake
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.
Burt Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Burt Lake ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Burt Lake ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Burt Lake
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Burt Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,283, 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 Burt Lake's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Burt Lake
Burt Lake runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Burt Lake.
Who works in Burt Lake, and how
Work in Burt Lake centers on hospitality & food and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Burt Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Burt Lake.
What the weather is like in Burt Lake, month by month
Burt Lake sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 23° | 18° |
| April | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 58° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Burt Lake
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 232 miles away.
The best schools in and around Burt Lake
Schools across Burt Lake average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pellston Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Inland Lakes Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Cheboygan Area High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Inland Lakes Secondary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Pellston Middlehigh SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Burt Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Burt Lake 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 Burt Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Burt Lake
Is Burt Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Burt Lake ranks 28,755th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, low disaster risk, and health care access, and lowest on distance from a big city and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Burt Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $211,238. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $68,283 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Burt Lake safe?
Yes, Burt Lake is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.
Compare Burt Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Burt Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Burt Lake 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.
Burt Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Burt Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Burt Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Burt Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Burt Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Burt Lake 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.