Best PlacesMacatawa, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Macatawa, 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.
Macatawa ranks 3,858th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Macatawa
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.
Macatawa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Macatawa ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Macatawa ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Macatawa
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Macatawa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $111,252, 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 Macatawa's effective rate of 0.88%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Macatawa
Macatawa 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 Macatawa.
Who works in Macatawa, and how
Work in Macatawa centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Macatawa
Macatawa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Macatawa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Macatawa, month by month
Macatawa sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Macatawa
The nearest airport, Muskegon County, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 86 miles away.
The best schools in and around Macatawa
Schools across Macatawa average a C, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lakewood Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Lakeshore Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- WestC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Saugatuck Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Macatawa Bay Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- West Ottawa High School CampusB− · 43% proficient
- Holland High SchoolC− · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Macatawa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Macatawa 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 Macatawa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Macatawa
Is Macatawa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Macatawa ranks 3,858th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and biking, and lowest on car insurance costs and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Macatawa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $368,961. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $111,252 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Macatawa safe?
Yes, Macatawa is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $166 per resident a year.
Compare Macatawa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Macatawa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Macatawa 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.
Macatawa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Macatawa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Macatawa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Macatawa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Macatawa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Macatawa 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.