Best PlacesLake Margrethe, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Margrethe, 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.
Lake Margrethe ranks 46,703rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lake Margrethe
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.
Lake Margrethe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake Margrethe ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap childcare$593 a month, better than 79% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 78% of towns
Where Lake Margrethe ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,854 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Margrethe
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Margrethe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,854, 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 Lake Margrethe's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 Lake Margrethe
Lake Margrethe 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 Lake Margrethe.
Who works in Lake Margrethe, and how
Work in Lake Margrethe centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Lake Margrethe
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lake Margrethe.
What the weather is like in Lake Margrethe, month by month
Lake Margrethe sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 21° | 13° |
| April | 54° | 41° | 28° |
| July | 82° | 68° | 54° |
| October | 60° | 47° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Lake Margrethe
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 179 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake Margrethe
Schools across Lake Margrethe average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Grayling Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Birch Street Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Roscommon Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Grayling Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Roscommon Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Kalkaska Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Grayling High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Roscommon High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Kalkaska High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Margrethe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Margrethe 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 Lake Margrethe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake Margrethe
Is Lake Margrethe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Margrethe ranks 46,703rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, transit, and fast internet, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake Margrethe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $132,093. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $40,854 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Lake Margrethe safe?
Lake Margrethe is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $405 per resident a year.
Compare Lake Margrethe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Margrethe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Margrethe 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.
Lake Margrethe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Margrethe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Margrethe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Margrethe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Margrethe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Margrethe 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.