Best PlacesEaton County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Eaton County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Eaton County ranks 835th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on car insurance costs and a weak job market. It does better on few empty homes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Eaton County
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.
The best areas in Eaton County
The parts of Eaton County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Grand Ledge
More adults hold degrees, more residents vote, and local pay stretches further.
Dimondale
Biking is worse and streets are more car-dependent.
Waverly
It is noisier and fewer households have young kids.
Potterville
Incomes run higher.
Eaton Rapids
More homes sit empty and commutes are longer.
Vermontville
Prices have run up less, though advertised internet is slower.
Charlotte, Olivet & Bellevue
Homes cost less.
Eaton County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 9% of the country and others in the top 10%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Eaton County's strengths and weaknesses
Eaton County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Few empty homes, civic engagement, and health care access carry most of that.
The one real hole is car insurance costs, near the bottom of the country. A weak job market and property taxes also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Eaton County to another than it does between Eaton County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Eaton County ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- TransitBetter than 86% of counties
Where Eaton County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Eaton County
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Eaton County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,176, 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 Eaton County's effective rate of 1.36%, 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 Eaton County
Eaton County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Eaton County.
Who works in Eaton County, and how
Work in Eaton County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. 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 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Eaton County
Eaton County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 65% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Eaton County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Eaton County growing, and who is moving in?
Eaton County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Lansing, MI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Eaton County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Eaton County, month by month
Eaton County sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 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 | 61° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Eaton County
The nearest airport, Capital Region International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 77 miles away.
The best schools in and around Eaton County
Schools across Eaton County average a C, better than 41% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Strange SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Horizon Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Parkview Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kenneth T Beagle Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Olivet Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Waverly Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Holt Senior High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Eaton Rapids High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Grand Ledge High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Eaton County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Eaton County 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 Eaton County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Eaton County suits
Families
Schools land around the 41st percentile and crime safety beats 88%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Eaton County
Is Eaton County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Eaton County ranks 835th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on few empty homes, civic engagement, and health care access, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Eaton County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,642. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $81,176 median income, cost of living beats 80% of counties.
Is Eaton County safe?
Yes, Eaton County is safer than 88% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Eaton County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 19. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Eaton County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Grand Ledge, Dimondale, and Waverly. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Eaton County good for families?
Schools beat 41% of counties, crime safety beats 88%, and childcare runs $733 a month.
Is Eaton County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 78% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Eaton County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Eaton County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Eaton County 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.
Eaton County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Eaton County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Eaton County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Eaton County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Eaton County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Eaton County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.