Best PlacesGanges, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ganges, 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.
Ganges ranks 23,473rd 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 Ganges
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.
Ganges' strengths and weaknesses
Where Ganges ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 85% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
Where Ganges ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 14% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ganges
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ganges home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,661, 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 Ganges' effective rate of 0.95%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ganges
Ganges runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ganges.
Who works in Ganges, and how
Work in Ganges centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ganges
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ganges.
What the weather is like in Ganges, month by month
Ganges sees roughly 74 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 Ganges
The nearest airport, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ganges
Schools across Ganges average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Douglas Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Glenn Public SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Fennville Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Baseline Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Fennville Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- South Haven High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Fennville Public High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ganges school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ganges 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 Ganges against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ganges
Is Ganges a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ganges ranks 23,473rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low crime, and health care access, and lowest on car insurance costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ganges expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $292,163. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $81,661 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Ganges safe?
Yes, Ganges is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
Compare Ganges with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ganges. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ganges 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.
Ganges detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ganges: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ganges: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ganges: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ganges: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ganges 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.