Best PlacesMears, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mears, 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.
Mears ranks 30,321st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mears
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.
Mears' strengths and weaknesses
Where Mears ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 77% of towns
Where Mears ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mears
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mears home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $67,313; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Mears' effective rate of 0.80%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mears
Mears 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 Mears.
Who works in Mears, and how
Work in Mears centers on manufacturing and other services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mears
Mears has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Mears and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mears, month by month
Mears sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 26° | 22° |
| April | 53° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 79° | 69° | 60° |
| October | 60° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Mears
The nearest airport, Muskegon County, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mears
Schools across Mears average a D+, better than 15% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Spitler Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Thomas Read Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hart Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Shelby Middle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Hart High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Shelby High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mears school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mears 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 Mears against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mears
Is Mears a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mears ranks 30,321st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and quiet, and lowest on a weak job 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 Mears expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $265,516. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $67,313 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Mears safe?
Yes, Mears is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $281 per resident a year.
Compare Mears with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mears. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mears 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.
Mears detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mears: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mears: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mears: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mears: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mears 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.