Best PlacesPaw Paw, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paw Paw, 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.
Paw Paw ranks 18,808th 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 Paw Paw
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.
Paw Paw's strengths and weaknesses
Where Paw Paw ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
Where Paw Paw ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Paw Paw
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paw Paw home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,144, 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 Paw Paw's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Paw Paw
Paw Paw's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Paw Paw.
Who works in Paw Paw, and how
Work in Paw Paw centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Paw Paw
Paw Paw has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 85% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Paw Paw and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Paw Paw, month by month
Paw Paw sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 27° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Paw Paw
The nearest airport, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paw Paw
Schools across Paw Paw average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mattawan Later Elem SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Paw Paw Later ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- Gobles Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mattawan Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Paw Paw Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Lawton Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Mattawan High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Paw Paw High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Lawton High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paw Paw school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paw Paw 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 Paw Paw against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Paw Paw
Is Paw Paw a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paw Paw ranks 18,808th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, walkability, and low crime, and lowest on car insurance costs and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Paw Paw expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $231,616. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $69,144 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Paw Paw safe?
Yes, Paw Paw is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $233 per resident a year.
Compare Paw Paw with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paw Paw. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paw Paw 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.
Paw Paw detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paw Paw: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paw Paw: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paw Paw: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paw Paw: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paw Paw 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.