Best PlacesEast Jordan, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Jordan, 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.
East Jordan ranks 17,774th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in East Jordan
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.
East Jordan's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Jordan ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 83% of towns
Where East Jordan ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Jordan
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Jordan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,524, 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 East Jordan's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in East Jordan
East Jordan 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 East Jordan.
Who works in East Jordan, and how
Work in East Jordan centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in East Jordan
East Jordan has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of East Jordan and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Jordan, month by month
East Jordan sees roughly 110 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 19° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 59° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of East Jordan
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 205 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Jordan
Schools across East Jordan average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Boyne City Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Charlevoix Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- East Jordan Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Boyne City Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Charlevoix Middle High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Boyne City High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- East Jordan Middlehigh SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Jordan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Jordan 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 East Jordan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Jordan
Is East Jordan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Jordan ranks 17,774th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, civic engagement, and biking, and lowest on car insurance costs and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Jordan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,246. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $73,524 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is East Jordan safe?
Yes, East Jordan is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
Compare East Jordan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Jordan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Jordan 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.
East Jordan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Jordan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Jordan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Jordan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Jordan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Jordan 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.