Best PlacesLapeer County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lapeer 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.
Lapeer County ranks 1,470th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lapeer 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 Lapeer County
The parts of Lapeer 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.
Metamora & Hadley
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and tree cover is thicker.
Almont & Dryden
Fewer homes sit empty, though prices have run up more.
Lapeer
Commutes are shorter, though it is noisier.
North Branch
More households have young kids and homes cost less.
Imlay City
Fewer adults hold degrees and fewer residents vote.
Columbiaville & Otter Lake
Crime runs higher and schools score lower.
Scores across Lapeer County run from about the 6th to the 78th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lapeer County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lapeer County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 82% of counties
Where Lapeer County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of counties
- Short commute34.5 minutes each way, better than only 4% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 7% 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 Lapeer County
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lapeer County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,773, 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 Lapeer County's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Lapeer County
Lapeer County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lapeer County.
Who works in Lapeer County, and how
Work in Lapeer County centers on manufacturing 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 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lapeer County
Lapeer County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lapeer County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lapeer County growing, and who is moving in?
Lapeer County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Detroit, MI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lapeer County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lapeer County, month by month
Lapeer County sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Lapeer County
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lapeer County
Schools across Lapeer County average a C, better than 40% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Orchard Primary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Chatfield SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- North Branch Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Almont Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Hahn Intermediate SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Oxford Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Marlette Jrsr High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Brandon High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lapeer County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lapeer 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 Lapeer County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lapeer County suits
Families
Schools land around the 40th percentile and crime safety beats 94%.
Common questions about living in Lapeer County
Is Lapeer County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lapeer County ranks 1,470th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, low crime, and few empty homes, and lowest on car insurance costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lapeer County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,245. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $80,773 median income, cost of living beats 58% of counties.
Is Lapeer County safe?
Yes, Lapeer County is safer than 94% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $258 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lapeer County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 19. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 31% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lapeer County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Metamora & Hadley, Almont & Dryden, and Lapeer. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Lapeer County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lapeer County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lapeer 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.
Lapeer County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lapeer County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lapeer County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lapeer County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lapeer County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lapeer 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.