Best PlacesFree Soil, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Free Soil, 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.
Free Soil ranks 30,848th 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 Free Soil
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.
Free Soil's strengths and weaknesses
Where Free Soil ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 77% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 77% of towns
Where Free Soil ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Free Soil
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Free Soil home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,020, 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 Free Soil's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Free Soil
Free Soil 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 Free Soil.
Who works in Free Soil, and how
Work in Free Soil 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 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Free Soil
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Free Soil.
What the weather is like in Free Soil, month by month
Free Soil sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 55° | 43° | 32° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 56° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Free Soil
The nearest airport, Manistee County/Blacker, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Free Soil
Schools across Free Soil average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ludington Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Mason County Eastern Elem SchC− · 28% proficient
- John F Kennedy Elem SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oj Dejonge Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Brethren Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Mason County Central MsD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Ludington High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Manistee Middle High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Mason County Eastern Junior Highhigh SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Free Soil school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Free Soil 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 Free Soil against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Free Soil
Is Free Soil a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Free Soil ranks 30,848th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, quiet, and low crime, 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 Free Soil expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $228,769. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $68,020 median income, cost of living beats 49% of towns.
Is Free Soil safe?
Yes, Free Soil is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $233 per resident a year.
Compare Free Soil with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Free Soil. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Free Soil 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.
Free Soil detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Free Soil: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Free Soil: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Free Soil: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Free Soil: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Free Soil 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.