Best PlacesEscanaba, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Escanaba, 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.
Escanaba ranks 31,654th 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 Escanaba
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.
Escanaba's strengths and weaknesses
Where Escanaba ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute11.7 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
Where Escanaba ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Escanaba
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Escanaba home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,743, 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 Escanaba's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Escanaba
Escanaba 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 Escanaba.
Who works in Escanaba, and how
Work in Escanaba centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Escanaba
Escanaba has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Escanaba and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Escanaba, month by month
Escanaba sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| July | 79° | 68° | 55° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Escanaba
The nearest airport, Delta County, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 198 miles away.
The best schools in and around Escanaba
Schools across Escanaba average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Escanaba Upper ElementaryC+ · 36% proficient
- James T Jones Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Escanaba Juniorsenior High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Bark Riverharris Jrsr High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Escanaba Student Success CenterD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Escanaba school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Escanaba 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 Escanaba against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Escanaba
Is Escanaba a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Escanaba ranks 31,654th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, short commutes, and walkability, 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 Escanaba expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $143,087. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $55,743 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Escanaba safe?
Escanaba is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $554 per resident a year.
Compare Escanaba with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Escanaba. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Escanaba 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.
Escanaba detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Escanaba: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Escanaba: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Escanaba: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Escanaba: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Escanaba 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.