Best PlacesClarion, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clarion, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Clarion ranks 10,009th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Clarion
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.
Clarion's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clarion ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Clarion ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clarion
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clarion home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,125, 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 Clarion's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 Clarion
Clarion runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clarion.
Who works in Clarion, and how
Work in Clarion centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Clarion
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Clarion.
What the weather is like in Clarion, month by month
Clarion sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 23° | 18° |
| April | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 58° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Clarion
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 220 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clarion
Schools across Clarion average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Boyne City Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Sheridan SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Ottawa Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Petoskey Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Boyne City Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Petoskey High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Boyne City High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clarion school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clarion 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 Clarion against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clarion
Is Clarion a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clarion ranks 10,009th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and civic engagement, and lowest on car insurance costs 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 Clarion expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $322,965. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $98,125 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Clarion safe?
Yes, Clarion is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $284 per resident a year.
Compare Clarion with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clarion. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clarion 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.
Clarion detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clarion: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clarion: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clarion: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clarion: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clarion 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.