Best PlacesEast Tawas, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Tawas, 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.
East Tawas ranks 28,641st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in East Tawas
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 Tawas' strengths and weaknesses
Where East Tawas ranks high
- Short commute15.6 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
Where East Tawas ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$54,378 median, better than only 18% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Tawas
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Tawas home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,378, 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 Tawas' effective rate of 1.09%, 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 Tawas
East Tawas 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 Tawas.
Who works in East Tawas, and how
Work in East Tawas centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in East Tawas
East Tawas has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of East Tawas and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Tawas, month by month
East Tawas sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of East Tawas
The nearest airport, Alpena County Regional, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 144 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Tawas
Schools across East Tawas average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clara B Bolen Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Richardson Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tawas Area Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Tawas Area High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Oscoda Area High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Tawas school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Tawas 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 Tawas against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Tawas
Is East Tawas a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Tawas ranks 28,641st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, low disaster risk, and walkability, and lowest on car insurance costs and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Tawas expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,829. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $54,378 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is East Tawas safe?
East Tawas is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $378 per resident a year.
Compare East Tawas with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Tawas. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Tawas 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 Tawas detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Tawas: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Tawas: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Tawas: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Tawas: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Tawas 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.