Best PlacesPetoskey, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Petoskey, 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.
Petoskey ranks 8,627th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Petoskey
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.
Petoskey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Petoskey ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
Where Petoskey ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Petoskey
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Petoskey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $83,412; 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 Petoskey's effective rate of 0.95%, 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 Petoskey
Petoskey 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 Petoskey.
Who works in Petoskey, and how
Work in Petoskey centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Petoskey
Petoskey has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Petoskey and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Petoskey, month by month
Petoskey sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 23° | 18° |
| April | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 58° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Petoskey
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 222 miles away.
The best schools in and around Petoskey
Schools across Petoskey average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Petoskey Montessori Elem SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Lincoln SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Boyne City Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harbor Springs Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Petoskey Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Boyne City Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Petoskey High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Boyne City High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Harbor Springs High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Petoskey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Petoskey 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 Petoskey against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Petoskey
Is Petoskey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Petoskey ranks 8,627th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, civic engagement, and walkability, and lowest on car insurance costs and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Petoskey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $349,180. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $83,412 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Petoskey safe?
Yes, Petoskey is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $324 per resident a year.
Compare Petoskey with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Petoskey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Petoskey 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.
Petoskey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Petoskey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Petoskey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Petoskey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Petoskey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Petoskey 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.