Best PlacesReed City, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Reed City, 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.
Reed City ranks 28,397th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Reed City
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.
Reed City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Reed City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 78% of towns
Where Reed City ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Reed City
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Reed City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,987, 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 Reed City's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Reed City
Reed City 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 Reed City.
Who works in Reed City, and how
Work in Reed City centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Reed City
Reed City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Reed City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Reed City, month by month
Reed City 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 Reed City
The nearest airport, Manistee County/Blacker, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Reed City
Schools across Reed City average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine River Area Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Gt Norman Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Evart Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Reed City Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Pine River Area Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Evart Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Reed City High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Evart High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Pine River Area High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Reed City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Reed City 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 Reed City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Reed City
Is Reed City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Reed City ranks 28,397th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and transit, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Reed City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $145,565. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $61,987 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Reed City safe?
Yes, Reed City is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $287 per resident a year.
Compare Reed City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Reed City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Reed City 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.
Reed City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Reed City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Reed City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Reed City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Reed City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Reed City 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.