Best PlacesMio, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mio, 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.
Mio ranks 44,274th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on quiet.
The best neighborhoods in Mio
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.
Mio's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mio ranks high
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Cheap childcare$555 a month, better than 86% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 84% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 78% of towns
Where Mio ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$49,837 median, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mio
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mio home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,837, 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 Mio's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Mio
Mio 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 Mio.
Who works in Mio, and how
Work in Mio centers on manufacturing and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Mio
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mio.
What the weather is like in Mio, month by month
Mio sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 21° | 13° |
| April | 54° | 41° | 28° |
| July | 82° | 68° | 54° |
| October | 60° | 47° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Mio
The nearest airport, Alpena County Regional, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 174 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mio
Schools across Mio average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mioausable Elementary SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Mioausable High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mio school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mio 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 Mio against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mio
Is Mio a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mio ranks 44,274th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, affordable childcare, and walkability, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mio expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $129,220. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $49,837 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Mio safe?
Mio is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $517 per resident a year.
Compare Mio with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mio. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mio 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.
Mio detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mio: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mio: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mio: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mio: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mio 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.