Best PlacesPogy, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pogy, 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.
Pogy ranks 31,960th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
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The best neighborhoods in Pogy
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.
Pogy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pogy ranks high
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 76% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 77% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 70% of towns
Where Pogy ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 35% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pogy
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pogy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,786, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.7% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-08-20 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 Pogy's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Pogy
Pogy 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 Pogy.
Who works in Pogy, and how
Work in Pogy 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 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Pogy
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pogy.
What the weather is like in Pogy, month by month
Pogy sees roughly 77 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 Pogy
The nearest airport, Manistee County/Blacker, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pogy
Schools across Pogy average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverview Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Gt Norman Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Evart Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Big Rapids Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Reed City Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Chippewa Hills Intermediate SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Chippewa Hills High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Reed City High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Evart High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pogy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pogy 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 Pogy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pogy
Is Pogy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pogy ranks 31,960th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low crime, and health care access, and lowest on car insurance costs and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pogy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,383. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $60,786 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Pogy safe?
Yes, Pogy is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
Compare Pogy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pogy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pogy 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.
Pogy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pogy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pogy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pogy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pogy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pogy 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.