Best PlacesGenesee County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Genesee County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Genesee County ranks 2,154th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on car insurance costs and a weak job market. It does better on transit, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Genesee County
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.
The best areas in Genesee County
The parts of Genesee County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Grand Blanc
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Swartz Creek & Linden
Crime runs lower and fewer homes sit empty.
Fenton
It is noisier and fewer households have young kids.
Flushing, Clio & Montrose
Prices have run up less and tree cover is thicker.
Otisville & Thetford Center
Homes cost less, though biking is worse.
Davison & Burton
Scores close to Otisville & Thetford Center, except that streets are more walkable here.
Flint
Transit reaches more jobs, though schools score lower.
Mount Morris & Beecher
Health care is harder to reach and health outcomes score lower.
Genesee County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Genesee County's strengths and weaknesses
Genesee County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Transit, civic engagement, and biking carry most of that.
The one real hole is car insurance costs, near the bottom of the country. A weak job market and property taxes also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Genesee County to another than it does between Genesee County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Genesee County ranks high
- TransitBetter than 92% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of counties
- BikingBetter than 84% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 83% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of counties
Where Genesee County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 19% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Genesee County
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Genesee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,631, 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 Genesee County's effective rate of 1.37%, 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 Genesee County
Genesee County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Genesee County.
Who works in Genesee County, and how
Work in Genesee County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Genesee County
Genesee County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 75% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Genesee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Genesee County growing, and who is moving in?
Genesee County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Detroit, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Genesee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Genesee County, month by month
Genesee County sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 86° | 73° | 60° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Genesee County
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Genesee County
Schools across Genesee County average a C−, better than 19% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hill Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Gates Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Lillian G Mason Elementary SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Top middle schools
- Perry Innovation CenterB · 47% proficient
- Hahn Intermediate SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Davison Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Genesee Early CollegeB+ · 56% proficient
- Whitmer High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Fenton Senior High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Genesee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Genesee County 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 Genesee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Genesee County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Genesee County
Is Genesee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Genesee County ranks 2,154th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, civic engagement, and biking, 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 Genesee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,822. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $69,631 median income, cost of living beats 58% of counties.
Is Genesee County safe?
Genesee County is safer than 26% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $563 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Genesee County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 18. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Genesee County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Grand Blanc, Swartz Creek & Linden, and Fenton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Genesee County good for families?
Schools beat 19% of counties, crime safety beats 26%, and childcare runs $745 a month.
Is Genesee County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 58% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 61% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Genesee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Genesee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Genesee County 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.
Genesee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Genesee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Genesee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Genesee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Genesee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Genesee County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.