Best PlacesCopper Harbor, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Copper Harbor, 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.
Copper Harbor ranks 26,381st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Copper Harbor
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.
Copper Harbor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Copper Harbor ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Copper Harbor ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Copper Harbor
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Copper Harbor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,608, 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 Copper Harbor's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 Copper Harbor
Copper Harbor 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 Copper Harbor.
Who works in Copper Harbor, and how
Work in Copper Harbor centers on public administration and hospitality & food. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Copper Harbor
Copper Harbor has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Copper Harbor and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Copper Harbor, month by month
Copper Harbor sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 16° |
| April | 46° | 37° | 30° |
| July | 76° | 65° | 56° |
| October | 57° | 49° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Copper Harbor
The nearest airport, Houghton County Memorial, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 310 miles away.
The best schools in and around Copper Harbor
Schools across Copper Harbor average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clk Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Washington Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Calumet High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Copper Harbor school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Copper Harbor 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 Copper Harbor against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Copper Harbor
Is Copper Harbor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Copper Harbor ranks 26,381st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, clean air, and health care access, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Copper Harbor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $257,294. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $78,608 median income, cost of living beats 55% of towns.
Is Copper Harbor safe?
Copper Harbor is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $588 per resident a year.
Compare Copper Harbor with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Copper Harbor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Copper Harbor 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.
Copper Harbor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Copper Harbor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Copper Harbor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Copper Harbor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Copper Harbor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Copper Harbor 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.