Best PlacesHarrison Beach, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harrison 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.
Harrison Beach ranks 34,232nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Harrison 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.
Harrison Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harrison Beach ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
- Short commute21.9 minutes each way, better than 80% of towns
- QuietBetter than 77% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 72% of towns
Where Harrison Beach ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harrison Beach
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harrison Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,347, 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 Harrison Beach's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Harrison Beach
Harrison 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 Harrison Beach.
Who works in Harrison Beach, and how
Work in Harrison Beach centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Harrison Beach
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harrison Beach.
What the weather is like in Harrison Beach, month by month
Harrison Beach sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 55° | 43° | 32° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 56° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Harrison Beach
The nearest airport, Manistee County/Blacker, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harrison Beach
Schools across Harrison Beach average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mason County Eastern Elem SchC− · 28% proficient
- John F Kennedy Elem SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Knd ElementaryD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brethren Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Manistee Middle High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Mason County Eastern Junior Highhigh SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Brethren High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harrison Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harrison 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 Harrison Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harrison Beach
Is Harrison Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harrison Beach ranks 34,232nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, tree cover, and short commutes, and lowest on car insurance costs and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harrison Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $171,976. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $65,347 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Harrison Beach safe?
Harrison Beach is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.
Compare Harrison Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harrison Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harrison 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.
Harrison Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harrison Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harrison Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harrison Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harrison Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harrison 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.