Best PlacesCarson City, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carson City, 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.
Carson City ranks 25,270th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carson City
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.
Carson City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carson City ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of towns
Where Carson City ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 14% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 14% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carson City
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carson City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,477, 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 Carson City's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carson City
Carson City's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carson City.
Who works in Carson City, and how
Work in Carson City centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Carson City
Carson City has more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Carson City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carson City, month by month
Carson City sees roughly 74 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° | 25° | 20° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Carson City
The nearest airport, Capital Region International, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 101 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carson City
Schools across Carson City average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carson City Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Fulton Elementary SchoolF · 7% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fulton Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Carson Citycrystal Upper Elementarymiddle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Montcalm Middle High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Fulton High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Carson Citycrystal High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carson City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carson City 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 Carson City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carson City
Is Carson City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carson City ranks 25,270th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, quiet, and heat safety, and lowest on car insurance costs and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carson City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $191,556. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $81,477 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Carson City safe?
Carson City is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $406 per resident a year.
Compare Carson City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carson City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carson City 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.
Carson City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carson City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carson City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carson City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carson City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carson City 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.