Best PlacesMesick, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mesick, 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.
Mesick ranks 32,908th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mesick
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.
Mesick's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mesick ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap childcare$589 a month, better than 80% of towns
Where Mesick ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Short commute32.7 minutes each way, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mesick
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mesick home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,574, 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 Mesick's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mesick
Mesick runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mesick.
Who works in Mesick, and how
Work in Mesick centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mesick
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mesick.
What the weather is like in Mesick, month by month
Mesick sees roughly 102 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 22° | 16° |
| April | 54° | 42° | 31° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 56° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Mesick
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 149 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mesick
Schools across Mesick average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Manton Consolidated Elem SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Floyd M Jewett Elem SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manton Consolidated Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Brethren Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Mesick Consolidated Jrsr High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Brethren High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mesick school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mesick 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 Mesick against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mesick
Is Mesick a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mesick ranks 32,908th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low crime, and quiet, and lowest on car insurance costs and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mesick expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $165,685. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $60,574 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Mesick safe?
Yes, Mesick is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $211 per resident a year.
Compare Mesick with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mesick. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mesick 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.
Mesick detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mesick: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mesick: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mesick: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mesick: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mesick 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.