Best PlacesFife Lake, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fife Lake, 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.
Fife Lake ranks 32,997th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Fife Lake
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.
Fife Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fife Lake ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 78% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 77% of towns
Where Fife Lake ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute34.8 minutes each way, better than only 14% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fife Lake
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fife Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,689, 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 Fife Lake's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fife Lake
Fife Lake 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 Fife Lake.
Who works in Fife Lake, and how
Work in Fife Lake centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Fife Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fife Lake.
What the weather is like in Fife Lake, month by month
Fife Lake sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Fife Lake
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fife Lake
Schools across Fife Lake average a D+, better than 15% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kingsley Area Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Manton Consolidated Elem SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Courtade Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kingsley Area Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- East Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Manton Consolidated Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Central High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Kalkaska High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Kingsley Area High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fife Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fife Lake 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 Fife Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fife Lake
Is Fife Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fife Lake ranks 32,997th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, transit, and civic engagement, 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 Fife Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,881. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $73,689 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Fife Lake safe?
Yes, Fife Lake is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $297 per resident a year.
Compare Fife Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fife Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fife Lake 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.
Fife Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fife Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fife Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fife Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fife Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fife Lake 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.