Best PlacesCalhoun County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Calhoun County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Calhoun County ranks 1,919th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on a weak job market and car insurance costs. It does better on biking, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Calhoun County
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.
The best areas in Calhoun County
The parts of Calhoun County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Marshall
Prices have run up less, more adults hold degrees, and fewer homes sit empty.
Battle Creek
Local pay stretches further, though it is noisier.
Albion & Homer
Crime runs higher and incomes run lower.
Springfield & Level Park-Oak Park
More households have young kids.
Scores across Calhoun County run from about the 2nd to the 85th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Calhoun County's strengths and weaknesses
Calhoun County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Biking, heat safety, and big-city access are the strongest pieces, though none of them is exceptional.
The one real hole is a weak job market, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and the schools also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Calhoun County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 82% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 80% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 79% of counties
- TransitBetter than 76% of counties
Where Calhoun County ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Calhoun County
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Calhoun County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,143, 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 Calhoun County's effective rate of 1.37%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Calhoun County
Calhoun County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Calhoun County.
Who works in Calhoun County, and how
Work in Calhoun County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Calhoun County
Calhoun County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 76% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Calhoun County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Calhoun County growing, and who is moving in?
Calhoun County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Kalamazoo, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Calhoun County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Calhoun County, month by month
Calhoun County sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Calhoun County
The nearest airport, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Calhoun County
Schools across Calhoun County average a D+, better than 10% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Thomas M Ryan Intermediate SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Wattles Park Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Fern Persons Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Olivet Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Gull Lake Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Hastings Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Gull Lake High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Lakeview High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Marshall High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Calhoun County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Calhoun County 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 Calhoun County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Calhoun County suits
Families
Schools land around the 10th percentile and crime safety beats 66%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Calhoun County
Is Calhoun County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Calhoun County ranks 1,919th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, heat safety, and big-city access, and lowest on a weak job market 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 Calhoun County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,500. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $67,143 median income, cost of living beats 59% of counties.
Is Calhoun County safe?
Yes, Calhoun County is safer than 66% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $356 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Calhoun County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 19. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Calhoun County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Marshall, Battle Creek, and Albion & Homer. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Calhoun County good for families?
Schools beat 10% of counties, crime safety beats 66%, and childcare runs $650 a month.
Is Calhoun County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 59% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 71% of counties. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Calhoun County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Calhoun County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Calhoun County 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.
Calhoun County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Calhoun County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Calhoun County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Calhoun County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Calhoun County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Calhoun County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.