Best PlacesDutton, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dutton, 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.
Dutton ranks 1,448th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dutton
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.
Dutton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dutton ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$127,142 median, better than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of towns
Where Dutton ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dutton
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dutton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $127,142, 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 Dutton's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 Dutton
Dutton's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dutton.
Who works in Dutton, and how
Work in Dutton centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Dutton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dutton.
What the weather is like in Dutton, month by month
Dutton sees roughly 68 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° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Dutton
The nearest airport, Gerald R Ford International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dutton
Schools across Dutton average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cross Creek Charter AcademyA · 63% proficient
- Paris Ridge ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Dutton Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kraft Meadows Intermediate SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Byron Center High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Caledonia High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- East Kentwood High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dutton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dutton 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 Dutton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dutton
Is Dutton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dutton ranks 1,448th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, what local pay buys, and heat safety, 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 Dutton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $391,521. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $127,142 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Dutton safe?
Yes, Dutton is safer than 94% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $178 per resident a year.
Compare Dutton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dutton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dutton 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.
Dutton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dutton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dutton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dutton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dutton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dutton 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.