Best PlacesSaginaw County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Saginaw 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.
Saginaw County ranks 2,112th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on a weak job market and car insurance costs. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Saginaw 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 Saginaw County
The parts of Saginaw 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.
Freeland
Crime runs lower, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
St. Charles & Chesaning
It is quieter and fewer homes sit empty.
Frankenmuth, Birch Run & Bridgeport
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer households have young kids.
Saginaw
Biking is better, though prices have run up more.
Buena Vista
Health care is harder to reach and health outcomes score lower.
Scores across Saginaw County run from about the 1st to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Saginaw County's strengths and weaknesses
Saginaw County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk, heat safety, and cell coverage are the strongest pieces, though none of them is exceptional.
The one real hole is a weak job market, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and property taxes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Saginaw County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 80% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 79% of counties
- BikingBetter than 78% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 72% of counties
Where Saginaw County ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 19% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Saginaw County
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Saginaw County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,806, 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 Saginaw County's effective rate of 1.48%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Saginaw County
Saginaw County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Saginaw County.
Who works in Saginaw County, and how
Work in Saginaw County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Saginaw County
Saginaw County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 66% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Saginaw County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Saginaw County growing, and who is moving in?
Saginaw County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Bay City, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Saginaw County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Saginaw County, month by month
Saginaw County sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Saginaw County
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Saginaw County
Schools across Saginaw County average a C−, better than 25% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Handley SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Hemmeter Elementary SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Freeland Elementary SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ef Rittmueller Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Chesaning Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Ovidelsie Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Saginaw Arts And Sciences AcademyA− · 62% proficient
- Freeland Middle Schoolhigh SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Frankenmuth High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Saginaw County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Saginaw 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 Saginaw County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Saginaw County suits
Common questions about living in Saginaw County
Is Saginaw County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Saginaw County ranks 2,112th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and cell coverage, 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 Saginaw County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,727. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $66,806 median income, cost of living beats 48% of counties.
Is Saginaw County safe?
Saginaw County is safer than 35% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $503 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Saginaw County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 20. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Saginaw County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Freeland, St. Charles & Chesaning, and Frankenmuth, Birch Run & Bridgeport. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Saginaw County good for families?
Schools beat 25% of counties, crime safety beats 35%, and childcare runs $733 a month.
Is Saginaw County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 48% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 26% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Saginaw County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Saginaw County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Saginaw 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.
Saginaw County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Saginaw County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Saginaw County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Saginaw County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Saginaw County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Saginaw 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.