Best PlacesIngham County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ingham County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ingham County ranks 1,052nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on car insurance costs and property taxes. It does better on biking, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Ingham County
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.
The best areas in Ingham County
The parts of Ingham County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Okemos & Williamston
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Haslett
Crime runs lower, though fewer households have young kids.
Holt & Mason
Biking is worse and streets are more car-dependent.
Leslie, Stockbridge & Webberville
Prices have run up less and it is quieter.
East Lansing
Schools score higher and transit reaches more jobs.
Lansing
Homes cost less, though fewer residents vote.
Ingham County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Ingham County's strengths and weaknesses
Ingham County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Biking is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Transit and an educated workforce follow.
The one real hole is car insurance costs, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and a weak job market also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Ingham County to another than it does between Ingham County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Ingham County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 97% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of counties
Where Ingham County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ingham County
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ingham County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,322, 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 Ingham County's effective rate of 1.80%, 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 Ingham County
Ingham County runs younger 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 Ingham County.
Who works in Ingham County, and how
Work in Ingham County centers on education 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 72%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Ingham County
Ingham County has more parkland per resident than 87% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 88% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ingham County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ingham County growing, and who is moving in?
Ingham County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Detroit, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ingham County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ingham County, month by month
Ingham County sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 61° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Ingham County
The nearest airport, Capital Region International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ingham County
Schools across Ingham County average a C+, better than 54% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Whitehills Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Glencairn SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Cornell Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chippewa Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Kinawa SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Paulding Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- East Lansing High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Okemos High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Haslett High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ingham County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ingham County 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 Ingham County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Ingham County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Ingham County
Is Ingham County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ingham County ranks 1,052nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, transit, and an educated workforce, 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 Ingham County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,934. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $75,322 median income, cost of living beats 70% of counties.
Is Ingham County safe?
Ingham County is safer than 29% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $481 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ingham County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 19. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 23% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Ingham County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Okemos & Williamston, Haslett, and Holt & Mason. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Ingham County good for families?
Schools beat 54% of counties, crime safety beats 29%, and childcare runs $743 a month.
Is Ingham County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 91% of counties. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Ingham County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ingham County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ingham County 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.
Ingham County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ingham County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ingham County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ingham County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ingham County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ingham County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.