Best PlacesShepherd, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shepherd, 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.
Shepherd ranks 28,790th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shepherd
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.
Shepherd's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shepherd ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute19.1 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of towns
- BikingBetter than 76% of towns
Where Shepherd ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Household income$56,572 median, better than only 21% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shepherd
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shepherd home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,572, 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 Shepherd'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 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 Shepherd
Shepherd runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shepherd.
Who works in Shepherd, and how
Work in Shepherd centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Shepherd
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shepherd.
What the weather is like in Shepherd, month by month
Shepherd sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 25° | 20° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Shepherd
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shepherd
Schools across Shepherd average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine River Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Winn Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Shepherd Elementary SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bullock Creek Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Shepherd Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Ts Nurnberger Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Shepherd High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Bullock Creek High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Vestaburg Community High SchoolC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shepherd school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shepherd 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 Shepherd against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shepherd
Is Shepherd a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shepherd ranks 28,790th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, short commutes, and low crime, 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 Shepherd expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,197. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $56,572 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Shepherd safe?
Yes, Shepherd is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.
Compare Shepherd with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shepherd. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shepherd 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.
Shepherd detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shepherd: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shepherd: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shepherd: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shepherd: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shepherd 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.