Best PlacesHarbor Springs, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harbor Springs, 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 Springs ranks 11,764th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Harbor Springs
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 Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Harbor Springs ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
Where Harbor Springs ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harbor Springs
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harbor Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $88,586, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Springs' effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Harbor Springs
Harbor Springs 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 Springs.
Who works in Harbor Springs, and how
Work in Harbor Springs centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Harbor Springs
Harbor Springs has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Harbor Springs and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Harbor Springs, month by month
Harbor Springs sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 23° | 18° |
| April | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 58° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Harbor Springs
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 226 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harbor Springs
Schools across Harbor Springs average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Petoskey Montessori Elem SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Lincoln SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Pellston Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harbor Springs Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Petoskey Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Petoskey High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Harbor Springs High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Pellston Middlehigh SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harbor Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harbor Springs 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 Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harbor Springs
Is Harbor Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harbor Springs ranks 11,764th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and civic engagement, and lowest on distance from a big city and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harbor Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $388,656. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $88,586 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Harbor Springs safe?
Yes, Harbor Springs is safer than 69% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $298 per resident a year.
Compare Harbor Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harbor Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harbor Springs 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 Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harbor Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harbor Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harbor Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harbor Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harbor Springs 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.