Best PlacesRalph, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ralph, 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.
Ralph ranks 30,312th 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 Ralph
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.
Ralph's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ralph ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 141 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
Where Ralph ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute41.9 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ralph
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ralph home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,360, 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 Ralph's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 Ralph
Ralph 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 Ralph.
Who works in Ralph, and how
Work in Ralph centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ralph
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ralph.
What the weather is like in Ralph, month by month
Ralph sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 52° | 40° | 29° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 57° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Ralph
The nearest airport, Ford, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 216 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ralph
Schools across Ralph average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lakeview SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Wells Township SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Aspen Ridge Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Negaunee Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Wausaukee MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Negaunee High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Westwood High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Gwinn Middlehigh SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ralph school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ralph 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 Ralph against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ralph
Is Ralph a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ralph ranks 30,312th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, tree cover, and health care access, and lowest on car insurance costs and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ralph expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $140,822. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $79,360 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Ralph safe?
Ralph is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $378 per resident a year.
Compare Ralph with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ralph. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ralph 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.
Ralph detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ralph: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ralph: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ralph: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ralph: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ralph 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.