Best PlacesNewaygo County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Newaygo County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Newaygo County ranks 1,926th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Newaygo County
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.
The best areas in Newaygo County
The parts of Newaygo County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Fremont
Fewer homes sit empty, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Newaygo & Grant
Tree cover is thinner and it is noisier.
White Cloud
Scores across Newaygo County run from about the 8th to the 76th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Newaygo County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Newaygo County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- QuietBetter than 94% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 78% of counties
Where Newaygo County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of counties
- Short commute30.5 minutes each way, better than only 14% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Newaygo County
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Newaygo County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,830, 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 Newaygo County's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Newaygo County
Newaygo County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Newaygo County.
Who works in Newaygo County, and how
Work in Newaygo County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to 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 Newaygo County
Newaygo County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 74% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Newaygo County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Newaygo County growing, and who is moving in?
Newaygo County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Grand Rapids, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Newaygo County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Newaygo County, month by month
Newaygo County sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 26° | 21° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Newaygo County
The nearest airport, Muskegon County, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 111 miles away.
The best schools in and around Newaygo County
Schools across Newaygo County average a C−, better than 20% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Gt Norman Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Daisy Brook Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Beach Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cedar Springs Middle SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Big Rapids Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Fremont Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Cedar Springs High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Newaygo High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Tri County Senior High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Newaygo County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Newaygo County 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 Newaygo County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Newaygo County suits
Families
Schools land around the 20th percentile and crime safety beats 98%.
Common questions about living in Newaygo County
Is Newaygo County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Newaygo County ranks 1,926th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, low disaster risk, and quiet, 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 Newaygo County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $190,674. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $65,830 median income, cost of living beats 37% of counties.
Is Newaygo County safe?
Yes, Newaygo County is safer than 98% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Newaygo County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 31 with lows near 21. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Newaygo County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Fremont, Newaygo & Grant, and White Cloud. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Newaygo County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Newaygo County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Newaygo County 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.
Newaygo County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Newaygo County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Newaygo County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Newaygo County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Newaygo County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Newaygo County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.