Best PlacesPokagon, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pokagon, 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.
Pokagon ranks 28,385th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Pokagon
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.
Pokagon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pokagon ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute20.6 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 78% of towns
Where Pokagon ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 11% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pokagon
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pokagon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,611, 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 Pokagon's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Pokagon
Pokagon 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 Pokagon.
Who works in Pokagon, and how
Work in Pokagon centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Pokagon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pokagon.
What the weather is like in Pokagon, month by month
Pokagon sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Pokagon
The nearest airport, South Bend International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pokagon
Schools across Pokagon average a D+, better than 11% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kincheloe Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Sister Lakes Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Patrick Hamilton ElementaryD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dowagiac Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Union High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pokagon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pokagon 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 Pokagon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pokagon
Is Pokagon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pokagon ranks 28,385th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, big-city access, and short commutes, and lowest on car insurance costs and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pokagon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $214,854. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $67,611 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Pokagon safe?
Yes, Pokagon is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $311 per resident a year.
Compare Pokagon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pokagon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pokagon 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.
Pokagon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pokagon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pokagon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pokagon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pokagon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pokagon 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.