Best PlacesOwosso, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Owosso, 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.
Owosso ranks 28,452nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Owosso
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.
Owosso's strengths and weaknesses
Where Owosso ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 85% of towns
Where Owosso ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Owosso
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Owosso home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,546, 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 Owosso's effective rate of 1.26%, 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 Owosso
Owosso 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 Owosso.
Who works in Owosso, and how
Work in Owosso centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Owosso
Owosso has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Owosso and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Owosso, month by month
Owosso sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Owosso
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Owosso
Schools across Owosso average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Big Rock Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Laingsburg Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Perry ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chesaning Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Ovidelsie Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Laingsburg Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Laingsburg High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Chesaning Union High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Corunna High SchoolC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Owosso school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Owosso 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 Owosso against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Owosso suits
Families
Schools land around the 16th percentile and crime safety beats 64%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Owosso
Is Owosso a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Owosso ranks 28,452nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and transit, 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 Owosso expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,890. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $63,546 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Owosso safe?
Yes, Owosso is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Owosso?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 19. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of towns.
Is Owosso good for families?
Schools beat 16% of towns, crime safety beats 64%, and childcare runs $777 a month.
Compare Owosso with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Owosso. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Owosso 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.
Owosso detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Owosso: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Owosso: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Owosso: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Owosso: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Owosso 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.