Best PlacesNorton Shores, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Norton Shores, 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.
Norton Shores ranks 18,162nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Norton Shores
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.
Norton Shores' strengths and weaknesses
Where Norton Shores ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute20.3 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
Where Norton Shores ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Norton Shores
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Norton Shores home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,437, 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 Norton Shores' effective rate of 1.25%, 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 Norton Shores
Norton Shores runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Norton Shores.
Who works in Norton Shores, and how
Work in Norton Shores centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Norton Shores
Norton Shores has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Norton Shores and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Norton Shores, month by month
Norton Shores sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Norton Shores
The nearest airport, Muskegon County, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Norton Shores
Schools across Norton Shores average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Hills Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Churchill Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Lincoln Park Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- White Pines Intermediate SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Mona Shores Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Fruitport Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Mona Shores High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Grand Haven High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Fruitport High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Norton Shores school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Norton Shores 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 Norton Shores against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Norton Shores suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Norton Shores
Is Norton Shores a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Norton Shores ranks 18,162nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, fast internet, and low disaster risk, 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 Norton Shores expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,332. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $81,437 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Norton Shores safe?
Norton Shores is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Norton Shores?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 22. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of towns.
Is Norton Shores good for families?
Schools beat 47% of towns, crime safety beats 42%, and childcare runs $601 a month.
Compare Norton Shores with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Norton Shores. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Norton Shores 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.
Norton Shores detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Norton Shores: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Norton Shores: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Norton Shores: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Norton Shores: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Norton Shores 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.