Best PlacesHarbor Beach, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harbor Beach, 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.
Harbor Beach ranks 30,114th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Harbor Beach
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.
Harbor Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harbor Beach ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute18.0 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- QuietBetter than 83% of towns
Where Harbor Beach ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$52,020 median, better than only 15% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 21% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harbor Beach
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harbor Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,020, 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 Harbor Beach's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Harbor Beach
Harbor Beach 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 Harbor Beach.
Who works in Harbor Beach, and how
Work in Harbor Beach 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 78%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Harbor Beach
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harbor Beach.
What the weather is like in Harbor Beach, month by month
Harbor Beach sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 27° | 20° |
| April | 53° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Harbor Beach
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 73 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 118 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harbor Beach
Schools across Harbor Beach average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Adams Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Eccles SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Ubly Community Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harbor Beach Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Harbor Beach Community High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Ubly Community Jrsr High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Deckerville Community High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harbor Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harbor Beach 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 Harbor Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harbor Beach
Is Harbor Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harbor Beach ranks 30,114th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, and biking, and lowest on car insurance costs and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harbor Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,297. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $52,020 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Harbor Beach safe?
Yes, Harbor Beach is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $319 per resident a year.
Compare Harbor Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harbor Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harbor Beach 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.
Harbor Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harbor Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harbor Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harbor Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harbor Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harbor Beach 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.