Best PlacesGrant Center, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Grant Center, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Grant Center ranks 22,334th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Grant Center
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.
Grant Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grant Center ranks high
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Grant Center ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Grant Center
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grant Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,634, 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 Grant Center'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Grant Center
Grant Center 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 Grant Center.
Who works in Grant Center, and how
Work in Grant Center centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Grant Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Grant Center.
What the weather is like in Grant Center, month by month
Grant Center sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 18° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Grant Center
The nearest airport, Manistee County/Blacker, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grant Center
Schools across Grant Center average a C, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverview Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Gt Norman Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Barryton Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Big Rapids Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Reed City Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Chippewa Hills Intermediate SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Big Rapids High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Chippewa Hills High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Reed City High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grant Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grant Center 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 Grant Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Grant Center
Is Grant Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grant Center ranks 22,334th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, heat safety, and low crime, and lowest on car insurance costs and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grant Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,665. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $63,634 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Grant Center safe?
Yes, Grant Center is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $231 per resident a year.
Compare Grant Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grant Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grant Center 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.
Grant Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grant Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grant Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grant Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grant Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grant Center 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.