Best PlacesCheboygan, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cheboygan, 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.
Cheboygan ranks 29,183rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cheboygan
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.
Cheboygan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cheboygan ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
Where Cheboygan ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cheboygan
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cheboygan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,353, 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 Cheboygan's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cheboygan
Cheboygan 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 Cheboygan.
Who works in Cheboygan, and how
Work in Cheboygan 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 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Cheboygan
Cheboygan has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cheboygan and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cheboygan, month by month
Cheboygan sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 22° | 16° |
| April | 49° | 39° | 30° |
| July | 79° | 68° | 57° |
| October | 58° | 49° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Cheboygan
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 241 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cheboygan
Schools across Cheboygan average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- East Jordan Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Cheboygan Intermediate SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Pellston Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- East Jordan Middlehigh SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Cheboygan Area High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Inland Lakes Secondary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cheboygan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cheboygan 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 Cheboygan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cheboygan
Is Cheboygan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cheboygan ranks 29,183rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, civic engagement, and transit, 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 Cheboygan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $174,860. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $63,353 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Cheboygan safe?
Cheboygan is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $380 per resident a year.
Compare Cheboygan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cheboygan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cheboygan 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.
Cheboygan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cheboygan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cheboygan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cheboygan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cheboygan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cheboygan 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.