Best PlacesHarper Woods, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harper Woods, 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.
Harper Woods ranks 37,420th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Harper Woods
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.
Harper Woods' strengths and weaknesses
Where Harper Woods ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
Where Harper Woods ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harper Woods
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harper Woods home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,162, 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 Harper Woods' effective rate of 2.08%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Harper Woods
Harper Woods runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Harper Woods.
Who works in Harper Woods, and how
Work in Harper Woods centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Harper Woods
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harper Woods.
What the weather is like in Harper Woods, month by month
Harper Woods sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Harper Woods
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 27 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Harper Woods
Schools across Harper Woods average a D+, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- John Monteith Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Stevens T Mason Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Carleton Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Parcells Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Fisher Magnet Upper AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
- Chandler Park Academy Middle SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- Grosse Pointe North High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Denby High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Harper Woods High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harper Woods school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harper Woods 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 Harper Woods against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harper Woods
Is Harper Woods a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harper Woods ranks 37,420th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and cell coverage, and lowest on car insurance costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harper Woods expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $147,757. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $70,162 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Harper Woods safe?
Harper Woods is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $767 per resident a year.
Compare Harper Woods with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harper Woods. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harper Woods 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.
Harper Woods detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harper Woods: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harper Woods: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harper Woods: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harper Woods: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harper Woods 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.