Best PlacesFlint, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Flint, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Flint ranks 6,458th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Flint
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.
Flint's strengths and weaknesses
Where Flint ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
Where Flint ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Flint
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Flint home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,490, 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 Flint's effective rate of 1.35%, 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 Flint
Flint 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 Flint.
Who works in Flint, and how
Work in Flint centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Flint
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Flint.
What the weather is like in Flint, month by month
Flint sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Flint
The nearest airport, Frederick Douglass/Greater Rochester International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 213 miles away.
The best schools in and around Flint
Schools across Flint average an A−, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Midlakes Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marcus Whitman Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Marcus Whitman High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Midlakes Middle/high SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Flint school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Flint 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 Flint against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Flint
Is Flint a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Flint ranks 6,458th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, good schools, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Flint expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,799. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $89,490 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Flint safe?
Yes, Flint is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $208 per resident a year.
Compare Flint with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Flint. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Flint 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.
Flint detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Flint: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Flint: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Flint: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Flint: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Flint 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.