Best PlacesMcFarland, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around McFarland, 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.
McFarland ranks 46,397th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in McFarland
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.
McFarland's strengths and weaknesses
Where McFarland ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$696 a month, better than 66% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 62% of towns
Where McFarland ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in McFarland
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median McFarland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,721, 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 McFarland's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 McFarland
McFarland runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for McFarland.
Who works in McFarland, and how
Work in McFarland centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in McFarland
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across McFarland.
What the weather is like in McFarland, month by month
McFarland sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 18° | 12° |
| April | 46° | 37° | 28° |
| July | 77° | 66° | 56° |
| October | 54° | 45° | 38° |
Flying in and out of McFarland
The nearest airport, Marquette/Sawyer Regional, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 227 miles away.
The best schools in and around McFarland
Schools across McFarland average a C−, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wells Township SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Cherry Creek Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- George D Gilbert Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bothwell Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Marquette Senior High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Gwinn Middlehigh SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every McFarland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
McFarland 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 McFarland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in McFarland
Is McFarland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, McFarland ranks 46,397th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, low disaster risk, and tree cover, and lowest on cell coverage 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 McFarland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,669. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $61,721 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is McFarland safe?
McFarland is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $372 per resident a year.
Compare McFarland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to McFarland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in McFarland 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.
McFarland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for McFarland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in McFarland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of McFarland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in McFarland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
McFarland 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.