Best PlacesLupton, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lupton, 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.
Lupton ranks 39,563rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lupton
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.
Lupton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lupton ranks high
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Cheap childcare$610 a month, better than 78% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 78% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 77% of towns
Where Lupton ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lupton
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lupton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,003, 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 Lupton's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lupton
Lupton 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 Lupton.
Who works in Lupton, and how
Work in Lupton centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lupton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lupton.
What the weather is like in Lupton, month by month
Lupton sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Lupton
The nearest airport, Alpena County Regional, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 155 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lupton
Schools across Lupton average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rose City SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Surline Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Collins Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Surline Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Ogemaw Heights High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Houghton Lake Jrsr High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lupton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lupton 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 Lupton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lupton
Is Lupton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lupton ranks 39,563rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low disaster risk, and affordable childcare, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lupton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $178,782. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $58,003 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Lupton safe?
Yes, Lupton is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 per resident a year.
Compare Lupton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lupton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lupton 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.
Lupton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lupton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lupton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lupton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lupton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lupton 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.