Best PlacesLuce County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Luce County, 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.
Luce County ranks 2,497th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Luce 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.
Luce County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Luce County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- QuietBetter than 91% of counties
- Short commute18.2 minutes each way, better than 87% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of counties
Where Luce County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Household income$54,011 median, better than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Luce County
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Luce County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,011, 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 Luce County's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Luce County
Luce 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 Luce County.
Who works in Luce County, and how
Work in Luce County centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Luce County
Luce County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Luce County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Luce County growing, and who is moving in?
Luce County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Marquette County, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Luce County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Luce County, month by month
Luce County sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 20° | 14° |
| April | 47° | 38° | 30° |
| July | 78° | 66° | 56° |
| October | 55° | 47° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Luce County
The nearest airport, Chippewa County International, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 261 miles away.
The best schools in and around Luce County
Schools across Luce County average a C−, better than 20% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- William G Mather Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Emerald Elementary SchoolC− · 25% proficient
- Gros Cap SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Manistique Middle And High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Sault Area High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Munising High And Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Luce County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Luce 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 Luce County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Luce County
Is Luce County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Luce County ranks 2,497th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, quiet, and short commutes, and lowest on car insurance costs and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Luce County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $116,314. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $54,011 median income, cost of living beats 15% of counties.
Is Luce County safe?
Luce County is safer than 8% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $649 per resident a year.
Compare Luce County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Luce County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Luce 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.
Luce County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Luce County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Luce County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Luce County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Luce County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Luce 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.