Best PlacesHawks, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hawks, 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.
Hawks ranks 42,069th 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 Hawks
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.
Hawks' strengths and weaknesses
Where Hawks ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap childcare$551 a month, better than 87% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 74% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 64% of towns
Where Hawks ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hawks
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hawks home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,372, 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 Hawks' effective rate of 0.83%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hawks
Hawks 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 Hawks.
Who works in Hawks, and how
Work in Hawks centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Hawks
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hawks.
What the weather is like in Hawks, month by month
Hawks sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 51° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 80° | 68° | 57° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Hawks
The nearest airport, Alpena County Regional, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 212 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hawks
Schools across Hawks average a C−, better than 19% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Posen Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Rogers City Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Wilson ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Onaway Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Thunder Bay Junior High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Alpena High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Posen Consolidated High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Hillman Community Jrsr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hawks school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hawks 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 Hawks against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hawks
Is Hawks a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hawks ranks 42,069th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, quiet, and affordable childcare, and lowest on car insurance costs and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hawks expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $150,117. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $55,372 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Hawks safe?
Hawks is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $359 per resident a year.
Compare Hawks with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hawks. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hawks 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.
Hawks detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hawks: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hawks: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hawks: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hawks: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hawks 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.