Best PlacesMelstrand, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Melstrand, 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.
Melstrand ranks 44,558th 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 Melstrand
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.
Melstrand's strengths and weaknesses
Where Melstrand ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 80% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 80% of towns
Where Melstrand ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Melstrand
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Melstrand home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,566, 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 Melstrand's effective rate of 0.95%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Melstrand
Melstrand 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 Melstrand.
Who works in Melstrand, and how
Work in Melstrand centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Melstrand
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Melstrand.
What the weather is like in Melstrand, month by month
Melstrand sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 48° | 37° | 29° |
| July | 78° | 66° | 55° |
| October | 58° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Melstrand
The nearest airport, Marquette/Sawyer Regional, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 255 miles away.
The best schools in and around Melstrand
Schools across Melstrand average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- William G Mather Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Emerald Elementary SchoolC− · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Munising High And Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Melstrand school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Melstrand 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 Melstrand against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Melstrand
Is Melstrand a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Melstrand ranks 44,558th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, quiet, and tree cover, and lowest on a weak job market and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Melstrand expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,700. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $59,566 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Melstrand safe?
Melstrand is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $573 per resident a year.
Compare Melstrand with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Melstrand. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Melstrand 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.
Melstrand detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Melstrand: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Melstrand: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Melstrand: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Melstrand: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Melstrand 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.