Best PlacesKiva, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kiva, 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.
Kiva ranks 42,901st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kiva
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.
Kiva's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kiva ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 74% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 71% of towns
Where Kiva ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kiva
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kiva home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,670, 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 Kiva's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kiva
Kiva runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kiva.
Who works in Kiva, and how
Work in Kiva centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Kiva
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kiva.
What the weather is like in Kiva, month by month
Kiva sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 47° | 37° | 29° |
| July | 77° | 65° | 55° |
| October | 55° | 46° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Kiva
The nearest airport, Marquette/Sawyer Regional, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 231 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kiva
Schools across Kiva average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cherry Creek Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Ki Sawyer Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bothwell Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Marquette Senior High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Gwinn Middlehigh SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kiva school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kiva 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 Kiva against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kiva
Is Kiva a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kiva ranks 42,901st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, tree cover, and heat safety, and lowest on distance from a big city and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kiva expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $179,328. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $62,670 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Kiva safe?
Kiva is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $373 per resident a year.
Compare Kiva with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kiva. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kiva 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.
Kiva detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kiva: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kiva: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kiva: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kiva: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kiva 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.