Best PlacesForest Grove, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Forest Grove, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Forest Grove ranks 2,222nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Forest Grove
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.
Forest Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Forest Grove ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$122,467 median, better than 94% of towns
Where Forest Grove ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Forest Grove
A household needs to earn about $153,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Forest Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $122,467, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Forest Grove's effective rate of 1.01%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Forest Grove
Forest Grove runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Forest Grove.
Who works in Forest Grove, and how
Work in Forest Grove centers on manufacturing and other services. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Forest Grove
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Forest Grove.
What the weather is like in Forest Grove, month by month
Forest Grove sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Forest Grove
The nearest airport, Gerald R Ford International, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Forest Grove
Schools across Forest Grove average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Adams Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Forest Grove Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Riley Street Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Cityside Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Hudsonville High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Zeeland East High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Forest Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Forest Grove 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 Forest Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Forest Grove
Is Forest Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Forest Grove ranks 2,222nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, population health, and heat safety, and lowest on car insurance costs and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Forest Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $569,393. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $122,467 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Forest Grove safe?
Yes, Forest Grove is safer than 99% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $134 per resident a year.
Compare Forest Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Forest Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Forest Grove 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.
Forest Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Forest Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Forest Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Forest Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Forest Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Forest Grove 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.