Best PlacesPontiac, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pontiac, 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.
Pontiac ranks 2,063rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on biking.
The best neighborhoods in Pontiac
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.
Pontiac's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pontiac ranks high
- BikingBetter than 89% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 84% of cities
- Short commute21.2 minutes each way, better than 81% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of cities
Where Pontiac ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of cities
- Household income$49,648 median, better than only 1% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Pontiac
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pontiac home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,648, 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 Pontiac's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pontiac
Pontiac runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pontiac.
Who works in Pontiac, and how
Work in Pontiac centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Pontiac
Pontiac has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pontiac and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pontiac, month by month
Pontiac sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Pontiac
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 30 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Pontiac
Schools across Pontiac average a D, better than 3% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Eastover Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Jerusalem Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Walton Charter AcademyD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Eisenhower Intermediate SchoolA · 61% proficient
- East Hills Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Pontiac Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- International AcademyA+ · 82% proficient
- Clay High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Pontiac High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pontiac school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pontiac 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 Pontiac against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Pontiac suits
Common questions about living in Pontiac
Is Pontiac a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pontiac ranks 2,063rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on a weak job market and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pontiac expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $122,463. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $49,648 median income, cost of living beats 3% of cities.
Is Pontiac safe?
Pontiac is safer than 2% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $738 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pontiac?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 18. That works out to about 98 pleasant days a year, more than 59% of cities.
Is Pontiac good for families?
Schools beat 3% of cities, crime safety beats 2%, and childcare runs $916 a month.
Compare Pontiac with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pontiac. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pontiac 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.
Pontiac detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pontiac: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pontiac: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pontiac: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pontiac: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pontiac 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.