Best PlacesLeelanau County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Leelanau County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Leelanau County ranks 415th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Leelanau 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.
Leelanau County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Leelanau County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of counties
- QuietBetter than 97% of counties
Where Leelanau County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 8% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Leelanau County
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Leelanau County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,302, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Leelanau County's effective rate of 0.69%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Leelanau County
Leelanau County 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 Leelanau County.
Who works in Leelanau County, and how
Work in Leelanau County centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Leelanau County
Leelanau County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of counties and more parkland per resident than 86% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Leelanau County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Leelanau County growing, and who is moving in?
Leelanau County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Traverse City, MI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Leelanau County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Leelanau County, month by month
Leelanau County sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Leelanau County
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 173 miles away.
The best schools in and around Leelanau County
Schools across Leelanau County average a C+, better than 46% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Willow Hill Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Tcaps Montessori SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Lake Ann Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Central High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- West Senior HighB · 46% proficient
- Charlevoix Middle High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Leelanau County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Leelanau 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 Leelanau County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Leelanau County suits
Families
Schools land around the 46th percentile and crime safety beats 96%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of counties and 16% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 64% of counties, health care access beats 100%, and it is quieter than 97%.
Common questions about living in Leelanau County
Is Leelanau County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Leelanau County ranks 415th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, low disaster risk, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing 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 Leelanau County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $485,927. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $99,302 median income, cost of living beats 93% of counties.
Is Leelanau County safe?
Yes, Leelanau County is safer than 96% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $236 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Leelanau County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 20. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 64% of counties.
Is Leelanau County good for families?
Schools beat 46% of counties, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $765 a month.
Compare Leelanau County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Leelanau County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Leelanau 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.
Leelanau County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Leelanau County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Leelanau County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Leelanau County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Leelanau County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Leelanau 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.