Best PlacesCarp Lake, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carp Lake, 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.
Carp Lake ranks 43,327th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Carp 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.
Carp Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carp Lake ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 81% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 81% of towns
- Short commute22.6 minutes each way, better than 77% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 76% of towns
Where Carp Lake ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carp Lake
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carp Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $51,351; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Carp Lake's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Carp Lake
Carp Lake 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 Carp Lake.
Who works in Carp Lake, and how
Work in Carp Lake centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Carp Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carp Lake.
What the weather is like in Carp Lake, month by month
Carp Lake sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 22° | 13° |
| April | 53° | 40° | 29° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 54° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Carp Lake
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 245 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carp Lake
Schools across Carp Lake average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cheboygan Intermediate SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Pellston Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Gros Cap SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Cheboygan Area High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Pellston Middlehigh SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carp Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carp 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 Carp Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carp Lake
Is Carp Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carp Lake ranks 43,327th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, civic engagement, and health care access, and lowest on a weak job market 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 Carp Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $211,972. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $51,351 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Carp Lake safe?
Carp Lake is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $416 per resident a year.
Compare Carp Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carp Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carp 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.
Carp Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carp Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carp Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carp Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carp Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carp 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.