Best PlacesOsceola County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Osceola 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.
Osceola County ranks 2,383rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Internet speeds pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on heat safety.
The best neighborhoods in Osceola 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.
Osceola County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Osceola County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 81% of counties
- QuietBetter than 80% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 77% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 74% of counties
Where Osceola County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Osceola County
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Osceola County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,590, 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 Osceola County's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 Osceola County
Osceola County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Osceola County.
Who works in Osceola County, and how
Work in Osceola County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Osceola County
Osceola County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 86% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Osceola County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Osceola County growing, and who is moving in?
Osceola County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Wexford County, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Osceola County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Osceola County, month by month
Osceola County sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 18° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Osceola County
The nearest airport, Manistee County/Blacker, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Osceola County
Schools across Osceola County average a C, better than 31% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Pine River Area Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Franklin Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Mcbain Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mackinaw Trail Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Mcbain Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Reed City Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Mcbain High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Cadillac Senior High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Chippewa Hills High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Osceola County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Osceola 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 Osceola County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Osceola County suits
Families
Schools land around the 31st percentile and crime safety beats 74%.
Common questions about living in Osceola County
Is Osceola County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Osceola County ranks 2,383rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, low disaster risk, and quiet, and lowest on internet speeds and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Osceola County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $153,506. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $58,590 median income, cost of living beats 26% of counties.
Is Osceola County safe?
Yes, Osceola County is safer than 74% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $322 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Osceola County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 18. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of counties.
Is Osceola County good for families?
Schools beat 31% of counties, crime safety beats 74%, and childcare runs $622 a month.
Compare Osceola County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Osceola County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Osceola 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.
Osceola County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Osceola County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Osceola County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Osceola County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Osceola County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Osceola 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.