Best PlacesEllsworth, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ellsworth, 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.
Ellsworth ranks 24,014th 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 Ellsworth
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.
Ellsworth's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ellsworth ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 79% of towns
Where Ellsworth ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ellsworth
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ellsworth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,569, 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 Ellsworth's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 Ellsworth
Ellsworth 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 Ellsworth.
Who works in Ellsworth, and how
Work in Ellsworth centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ellsworth
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ellsworth.
What the weather is like in Ellsworth, month by month
Ellsworth sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 25° | 20° |
| April | 51° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 80° | 69° | 60° |
| October | 60° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Ellsworth
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 201 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ellsworth
Schools across Ellsworth average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Charlevoix Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- East Jordan Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Charlevoix Middle High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- East Jordan Middlehigh SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ellsworth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ellsworth 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 Ellsworth against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ellsworth
Is Ellsworth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ellsworth ranks 24,014th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and civic engagement, 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 Ellsworth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,025. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $70,569 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Ellsworth safe?
Yes, Ellsworth is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.
Compare Ellsworth with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ellsworth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ellsworth 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.
Ellsworth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ellsworth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ellsworth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ellsworth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ellsworth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ellsworth 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.