Best PlacesLansing, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Lansing metro, 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.
Photo by User Criticalthinker on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Lansing ranks 203rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on a weak job market and car insurance costs. It does better on civic engagement, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Lansing metro
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 Lansing
The towns and districts of the Lansing metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
East Lansing, Okemos & Williamston
More adults hold degrees, schools score higher, and biking is better.
Haslett & Bath
Crime runs lower, though fewer households have young kids.
Grand Ledge, Eagle & Fowler
Local pay stretches further and incomes run higher.
Waverly
Prices have run up less, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Mason, Leslie & Stockbridge
It is quieter, though streets are more car-dependent.
Dewitt & St. Johns
Scores close to Mason, Leslie & Stockbridge, except that commutes are shorter here.
Charlotte, Eaton Rapids & Dimondale
Advertised internet is slower and health outcomes score lower.
Holt
Downtown Lansing
Homes cost less, though fewer residents vote.
Lansing 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.
Lansing's strengths and weaknesses
Lansing lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Civic engagement, heat safety, and biking carry most of that.
The one real hole is a weak job market, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and property taxes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Lansing ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 79% of metro areas
Where Lansing ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 23% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 26% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Lansing
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lansing home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,678, 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 Lansing's effective rate of 1.60%, 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 Lansing
Lansing's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Lansing.
Who works in Lansing, and how
Work in Lansing centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Lansing
Lansing has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and more parkland per resident than 82% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lansing and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lansing growing, and who is moving in?
Lansing has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Detroit, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lansing go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lansing, month by month
Lansing 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 Lansing
The nearest airport, Capital Region International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lansing
Schools across Lansing average a C+, better than 42% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Glencairn SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Robert L Green ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Okemos Public MontessoricentralA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kinawa SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Paulding Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Herbison Woods Elementary SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- East Lansing High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Okemos High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- The Early College Lansing Community CollegeB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lansing school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lansing 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 Lansing against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Lansing suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Lansing
Is Lansing a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lansing ranks 203rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on civic engagement, heat safety, and biking, and lowest on a weak job market 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 Lansing expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,711. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $79,678 median income, cost of living beats 62% of metro areas.
Is Lansing safe?
Lansing is safer than 44% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $395 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lansing?
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 26% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lansing?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are East Lansing, Okemos & Williamston, Haslett & Bath, and Grand Ledge, Eagle & Fowler. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lansing good for families?
Schools beat 42% of metro areas, crime safety beats 44%, and childcare runs $738 a month.
Is Lansing good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 62% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 75% of metro areas. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lansing with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lansing. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lansing 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.
Lansing detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lansing: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lansing: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lansing: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lansing: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lansing 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.