Best PlacesGrand Traverse County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Grand Traverse County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Grand Traverse County ranks 486th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Grand Traverse 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 Grand Traverse County
The parts of Grand Traverse 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.
Williamsburg
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Traverse City
Fewer homes sit empty, though tree cover is thinner.
Interlochen & Grawn
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Kingsley
More households have young kids, though commutes are longer.
Grand Traverse County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 15% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Grand Traverse County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grand Traverse County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of counties
- BikingBetter than 90% of counties
Where Grand Traverse County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Grand Traverse County
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grand Traverse County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $86,599; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Grand Traverse County's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Grand Traverse County
Grand Traverse County 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 Grand Traverse County.
Who works in Grand Traverse County, and how
Work in Grand Traverse County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Grand Traverse County
Grand Traverse County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of counties and more parkland per resident than 79% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Grand Traverse County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Grand Traverse County growing, and who is moving in?
Grand Traverse County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Traverse City, MI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Grand Traverse County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Grand Traverse County, month by month
Grand Traverse County sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Grand Traverse County
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grand Traverse County
Schools across Grand Traverse County average a B−, better than 68% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kingsley Area Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Central Grade SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Mill Creek Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kingsley Area Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Cherryland Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- East Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Central High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Elk Rapids High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- West Senior HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grand Traverse County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grand Traverse 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 Grand Traverse County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Grand Traverse County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 87% of counties and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 61% of counties, health care access beats 96%, and it is quieter than 65%.
Common questions about living in Grand Traverse County
Is Grand Traverse County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grand Traverse County ranks 486th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, low disaster risk, 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 Grand Traverse County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $360,185. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $86,599 median income, cost of living beats 87% of counties.
Is Grand Traverse County safe?
Yes, Grand Traverse County is safer than 83% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Grand Traverse County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 20. That works out to about 101 pleasant days a year, more than 61% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Grand Traverse County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Williamsburg, Traverse City, and Interlochen & Grawn. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Grand Traverse County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grand Traverse County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grand Traverse 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.
Grand Traverse County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grand Traverse County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grand Traverse County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grand Traverse County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grand Traverse County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grand Traverse 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.