Best PlacesDuck Lake, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Duck Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Duck Lake ranks 26,061st 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 Duck Lake
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.
Duck Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Duck Lake ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 77% of towns
- Cheap childcare$648 a month, better than 73% of towns
Where Duck Lake ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 17% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Duck Lake
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Duck Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,684, 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 Duck Lake's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Duck Lake
Duck Lake 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 Duck Lake.
Who works in Duck Lake, and how
Work in Duck Lake centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Duck Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Duck Lake.
What the weather is like in Duck Lake, month by month
Duck Lake sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Duck Lake
The nearest airport, Capital Region International, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Duck Lake
Schools across Duck Lake average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fern Persons Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Mar Lee SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Springport Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Springport Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Olivet High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Springport High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Duck Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Duck Lake 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 Duck Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Duck Lake
Is Duck Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Duck Lake ranks 26,061st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, a strong job market, and low crime, and lowest on car insurance costs and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Duck Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $214,961. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $67,684 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Duck Lake safe?
Yes, Duck Lake is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
Compare Duck Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Duck Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Duck Lake 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.
Duck Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Duck Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Duck Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Duck Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Duck Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Duck Lake 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.