Best PlacesSanilac County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Sanilac 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.
Sanilac County ranks 1,954th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sanilac 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 Sanilac County
The parts of Sanilac 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.
Sandusky
Fewer homes sit empty, prices have run up less, and streets are more walkable.
Marlette
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Croswell & Lexington
More adults hold degrees and more residents vote.
Brown City
Health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Sanilac County run from about the 16th to the 64th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Sanilac County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sanilac County ranks high
- QuietBetter than 94% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 80% of counties
Where Sanilac County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Sanilac County
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sanilac County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,451, 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 Sanilac County's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 Sanilac County
Sanilac 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 Sanilac County.
Who works in Sanilac County, and how
Work in Sanilac County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Sanilac County
Sanilac County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 78% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sanilac County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Sanilac County growing, and who is moving in?
Sanilac County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Detroit, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sanilac County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sanilac County, month by month
Sanilac County sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 25° | 19° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Sanilac County
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sanilac County
Schools across Sanilac County average a C, better than 35% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Meyer Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Ubly Community Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Yale Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Yale Junior High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Harbor Beach Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Croswelllexington Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Sandusky Juniorsenior High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Marlette Jrsr High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Yale Senior High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sanilac County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sanilac 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 Sanilac County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Sanilac County suits
Families
Schools land around the 35th percentile and crime safety beats 90%.
Common questions about living in Sanilac County
Is Sanilac County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sanilac County ranks 1,954th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, low crime, and civic engagement, 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 Sanilac County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $167,478. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $59,451 median income, cost of living beats 31% of counties.
Is Sanilac County safe?
Yes, Sanilac County is safer than 90% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $259 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sanilac County?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 19. That works out to about 83 pleasant days a year, more than 43% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Sanilac County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sandusky, Marlette, and Croswell & Lexington. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Sanilac County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sanilac County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sanilac 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.
Sanilac County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sanilac County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sanilac County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sanilac County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sanilac County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sanilac 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.