Best PlacesClare County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Clare 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.
Clare County ranks 2,913th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Clare 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 Clare County
The parts of Clare 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.
Farwell
Crime runs lower, fewer homes sit empty, and commutes are shorter.
Clare
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Harrison
Streets are more walkable.
Scores across Clare County run from about the 2nd to the 49th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Clare County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clare County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 80% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 74% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 72% of counties
Where Clare County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of counties
- Household income$50,571 median, better than only 9% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Clare County
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clare County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,571, 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 Clare County's effective rate of 1.03%, 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 Clare County
Clare County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clare County.
Who works in Clare County, and how
Work in Clare County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Clare County
Clare County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 90% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Clare County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Clare County growing, and who is moving in?
Clare County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Isabella County, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Clare County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Clare County, month by month
Clare County sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 25° | 20° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Clare County
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 141 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clare County
Schools across Clare County average a D+, better than 17% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mcbain Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Marion Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Evart Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gladwin Junior High SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Clare Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Farwell Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Clare High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Clare Pioneer High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Farwell High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clare County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clare 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 Clare County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Clare County suits
Common questions about living in Clare County
Is Clare County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clare County ranks 2,913th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, low disaster risk, and clean air, and lowest on car insurance costs and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clare County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $144,642. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $50,571 median income, cost of living beats 10% of counties.
Is Clare County safe?
Clare County is safer than 37% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $426 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Clare County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 31 with lows near 20. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Clare County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Farwell, Clare, and Harrison. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Clare County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clare County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clare 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.
Clare County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clare County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clare County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clare County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clare County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clare 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.