Best PlacesRoscommon County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Roscommon County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Roscommon County ranks 2,522nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Roscommon County
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.
The best areas in Roscommon County
The parts of Roscommon County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Houghton Lake
Fewer homes sit empty and more residents vote.
Roscommon
Prudenville
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
St. Helen
More households have young kids and it is quieter.
Scores across Roscommon County run from about the 4th to the 81st percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Roscommon County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Roscommon County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- QuietBetter than 86% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of counties
Where Roscommon County ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Roscommon County
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Roscommon County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,889, 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 Roscommon County's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Roscommon County
Roscommon County 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 Roscommon County.
Who works in Roscommon County, and how
Work in Roscommon County centers on retail trade 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 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Roscommon County
Roscommon County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Roscommon County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Roscommon County growing, and who is moving in?
Roscommon County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Detroit, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Roscommon County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Roscommon County, month by month
Roscommon County sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 55° | 42° | 31° |
| July | 83° | 70° | 56° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Roscommon County
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Roscommon County
Schools across Roscommon County average a D+, better than 12% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Roscommon Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Collins Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Roscommon Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Roscommon High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Houghton Lake Jrsr High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Roscommon County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Roscommon County 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 Roscommon County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Roscommon County suits
Families
Schools land around the 12th percentile and crime safety beats 59%.
Common questions about living in Roscommon County
Is Roscommon County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Roscommon County ranks 2,522nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and low disaster risk, 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 Roscommon County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $171,566. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $57,889 median income, cost of living beats 30% of counties.
Is Roscommon County safe?
Yes, Roscommon County is safer than 59% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $377 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Roscommon County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 15. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Roscommon County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Houghton Lake, Roscommon, and Prudenville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Roscommon County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Roscommon County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Roscommon County 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.
Roscommon County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Roscommon County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Roscommon County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Roscommon County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Roscommon County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Roscommon County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.