Best PlacesDowling, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dowling, 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.
Dowling ranks 23,071st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dowling
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.
Dowling's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dowling ranks high
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 74% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 73% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 73% of towns
Where Dowling ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dowling
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dowling home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,875, 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 Dowling's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 Dowling
Dowling'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 Dowling.
Who works in Dowling, and how
Work in Dowling centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Dowling
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dowling.
What the weather is like in Dowling, month by month
Dowling sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Dowling
The nearest airport, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dowling
Schools across Dowling average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Star Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Delton Kellogg Elem SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thornapple Kellogg Middle SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Hastings Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Deltonkellogg Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Thornapple Kellogg High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Hastings High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Deltonkellogg High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dowling school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dowling 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 Dowling against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dowling
Is Dowling a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dowling ranks 23,071st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low disaster risk, and big-city access, and lowest on car insurance costs and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dowling expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,625. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $83,875 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Dowling safe?
Yes, Dowling is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
Compare Dowling with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dowling. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dowling 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.
Dowling detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dowling: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dowling: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dowling: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dowling: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dowling 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.