Best PlacesDurand, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Durand, 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.
Durand ranks 31,319th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Durand
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.
Durand's strengths and weaknesses
Where Durand ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Durand ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Durand
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Durand home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,426, 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 Durand's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Durand
Durand 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 Durand.
Who works in Durand, and how
Work in Durand centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Durand
Durand has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Durand and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Durand, month by month
Durand sees roughly 76 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° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Durand
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Durand
Schools across Durand average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Byron Area Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Robert Kerr SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Gaines Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Swartz Creek Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Byron Area Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Durand Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Byron Area High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Corunna High SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Swartz Creek High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Durand school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Durand 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 Durand against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Durand
Is Durand a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Durand ranks 31,319th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and fast internet, and lowest on car insurance costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Durand expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $170,015. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $66,426 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Durand safe?
Yes, Durand is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $296 per resident a year.
Compare Durand with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Durand. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Durand 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.
Durand detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Durand: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Durand: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Durand: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Durand: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Durand 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.