Best PlacesIron Mountain, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Iron Mountain, 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.
Iron Mountain ranks 18,108th 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 Iron Mountain
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.
Iron Mountain's strengths and weaknesses
Where Iron Mountain ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
Where Iron Mountain ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Iron Mountain
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Iron Mountain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,789, 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 Iron Mountain's effective rate of 1.38%, 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 Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain 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 Iron Mountain.
Who works in Iron Mountain, and how
Work in Iron Mountain centers on manufacturing and health care & social. 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 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Iron Mountain and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Iron Mountain, month by month
Iron Mountain sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 52° | 40° | 29° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 57° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Iron Mountain
The nearest airport, Ford, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 200 miles away.
The best schools in and around Iron Mountain
Schools across Iron Mountain average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Woodland Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Wells Township SchoolB · 50% proficient
- North Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kingsford Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- East Elementary SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Central Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Kingsford High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Norway High SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Iron Mountain High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Iron Mountain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Iron Mountain 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 Iron Mountain against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Iron Mountain
Is Iron Mountain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Iron Mountain ranks 18,108th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, walkability, and short commutes, 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 Iron Mountain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,168. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $63,789 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Iron Mountain safe?
Yes, Iron Mountain is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $318 per resident a year.
Compare Iron Mountain with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Iron Mountain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Iron Mountain 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.
Iron Mountain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Iron Mountain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Iron Mountain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Iron Mountain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Iron Mountain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Iron Mountain 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.