Best PlacesOgemaw County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ogemaw County, 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.
Ogemaw County ranks 2,639th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on quiet.
The best neighborhoods in Ogemaw 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.
Ogemaw County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ogemaw County ranks high
- QuietBetter than 90% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 79% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of counties
Where Ogemaw County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ogemaw County
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ogemaw County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,534, 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 Ogemaw County's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Ogemaw County
Ogemaw County 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 Ogemaw County.
Who works in Ogemaw County, and how
Work in Ogemaw County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ogemaw County
Ogemaw County has more late-night spots per resident than 83% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Ogemaw County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ogemaw County growing, and who is moving in?
Ogemaw County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Detroit, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ogemaw County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ogemaw County, month by month
Ogemaw County sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 55° | 42° | 31° |
| July | 83° | 70° | 56° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Ogemaw County
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ogemaw County
Schools across Ogemaw County average a C−, better than 26% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Rose City SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Surline Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Whittemoreprescott Area ElementaryF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Surline Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Ogemaw Heights High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Whittemoreprescott Jrsr High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Alternative Educational Academy Of Ogemaw CountyD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ogemaw County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ogemaw 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 Ogemaw County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Ogemaw County suits
Families
Schools land around the 26th percentile and crime safety beats 56%.
Common questions about living in Ogemaw County
Is Ogemaw County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ogemaw County ranks 2,639th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, low disaster risk, and civic engagement, 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 Ogemaw County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $152,277. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $55,534 median income, cost of living beats 21% of counties.
Is Ogemaw County safe?
Yes, Ogemaw County is safer than 56% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ogemaw County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 15. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of counties.
Is Ogemaw County good for families?
Schools beat 26% of counties, crime safety beats 56%, and childcare runs $610 a month.
Compare Ogemaw County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ogemaw County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ogemaw 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.
Ogemaw County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ogemaw County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ogemaw County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ogemaw County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ogemaw County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ogemaw 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.