Best PlacesEmmet County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Emmet County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Emmet County ranks 829th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Emmet 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 Emmet County
The parts of Emmet 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.
Petoskey
Fewer homes sit empty, prices have run up less, and more adults hold degrees.
Harbor Springs
More residents vote, though fewer households have young kids.
Alanson
Streets are more car-dependent and schools score lower.
Emmet County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 10% of the country and others in the top 10%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Emmet County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Emmet County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of counties
Where Emmet County ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 13% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Emmet County
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Emmet County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $82,489; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Emmet County's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Emmet County
Emmet County 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 Emmet County.
Who works in Emmet County, and how
Work in Emmet County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Emmet County
Emmet County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of counties and more parkland per resident than 96% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Emmet County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Emmet County growing, and who is moving in?
Emmet County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Cheboygan County, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Emmet County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Emmet County, month by month
Emmet County sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 23° | 18° |
| April | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 58° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Emmet County
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 227 miles away.
The best schools in and around Emmet County
Schools across Emmet County average a B−, better than 68% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Petoskey Montessori Elem SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Lincoln SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Boyne City Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harbor Springs Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Petoskey Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Boyne City Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Petoskey High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Boyne City High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Harbor Springs High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Emmet County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Emmet 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 Emmet County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Emmet County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of counties and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 64% of counties, health care access beats 99%, and it is quieter than 82%.
Common questions about living in Emmet County
Is Emmet County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Emmet County ranks 829th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and civic engagement, and lowest on a weak job market and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Emmet County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $322,157. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $82,489 median income, cost of living beats 77% of counties.
Is Emmet County safe?
Yes, Emmet County is safer than 80% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $301 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Emmet County?
July highs average about 78 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 18. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 64% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Emmet County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Petoskey, Harbor Springs, and Alanson. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Emmet County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Emmet County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Emmet 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.
Emmet County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Emmet County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Emmet County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Emmet County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Emmet County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Emmet 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.