Best PlacesOkemos, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Okemos, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Okemos ranks 383rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Okemos
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.
Okemos' strengths and weaknesses
Where Okemos ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of cities
- Short commute19.1 minutes each way, better than 90% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of cities
- QuietBetter than 87% of cities
Where Okemos ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 27% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 30% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Okemos
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Okemos home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $110,381; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Okemos' effective rate of 1.85%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Okemos
Okemos runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Okemos.
Who works in Okemos, and how
Work in Okemos centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Okemos
Okemos has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Okemos and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Okemos, month by month
Okemos sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Okemos
The nearest airport, Capital Region International, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 64 miles away.
The best schools in and around Okemos
Schools across Okemos average an A−, better than 85% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Glencairn SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Cornell Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Okemos Public MontessoricentralA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chippewa Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Kinawa SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Haslett Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- East Lansing High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Okemos High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Haslett High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Okemos school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Okemos 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 Okemos against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Okemos suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 22% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Okemos
Is Okemos a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Okemos ranks 383rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, heat safety, and short commutes, and lowest on car insurance costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Okemos expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $390,538. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $110,381 median income, cost of living beats 82% of cities.
Is Okemos safe?
Okemos is safer than 45% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $364 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Okemos?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 20. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of cities.
Is Okemos good for families?
Schools beat 85% of cities, crime safety beats 45%, and childcare runs $743 a month.
Compare Okemos with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Okemos. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Okemos 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.
Okemos detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Okemos: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Okemos: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Okemos: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Okemos: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Okemos 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.