Best PlacesSac Bay, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sac Bay, 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.
Sac Bay ranks 44,045th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sac Bay
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.
Sac Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sac Bay ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 119 pleasant days a year, better than 80% of towns
Where Sac Bay ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Short commute39.7 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sac Bay
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sac Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,833, 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 Sac Bay'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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sac Bay
Sac Bay 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 Sac Bay.
Who works in Sac Bay, and how
Work in Sac Bay centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sac Bay
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sac Bay.
What the weather is like in Sac Bay, month by month
Sac Bay sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| July | 79° | 68° | 55° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Sac Bay
The nearest airport, Delta County, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 197 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sac Bay
Schools across Sac Bay average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Escanaba Upper ElementaryC+ · 36% proficient
- Washington Island ElementaryC+ · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gladstone Area Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Escanaba Juniorsenior High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sac Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sac Bay 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 Sac Bay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sac Bay
Is Sac Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sac Bay ranks 44,045th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, quiet, and health care access, and lowest on cell coverage and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sac Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,000. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $50,833 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Sac Bay safe?
Sac Bay is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $329 per resident a year.
Compare Sac Bay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sac Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sac Bay 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.
Sac Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sac Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sac Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sac Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sac Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sac Bay 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.