Best PlacesShiawassee County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Shiawassee 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.
Shiawassee County ranks 1,711th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shiawassee 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 Shiawassee County
The parts of Shiawassee 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.
Perry & Laingsburg
Tree cover is thicker, more households have young kids, and incomes run higher.
Owosso
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Morrice
Durand
Prices have run up less, though it is noisier.
Corunna
Local pay stretches less far and crime runs higher.
Scores across Shiawassee County run from about the 8th to the 68th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Shiawassee County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shiawassee County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 84% of counties
- TransitBetter than 80% of counties
Where Shiawassee County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Shiawassee County
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shiawassee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,322, 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 Shiawassee County's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 Shiawassee County
Shiawassee 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 Shiawassee County.
Who works in Shiawassee County, and how
Work in Shiawassee County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Shiawassee County
Shiawassee County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Shiawassee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Shiawassee County growing, and who is moving in?
Shiawassee County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Lansing, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Shiawassee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Shiawassee County, month by month
Shiawassee County sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Shiawassee County
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shiawassee County
Schools across Shiawassee County average a C−, better than 21% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Big Rock Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- New Lothrop Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Elsa Meyer Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Haslett Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Chesaning Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Ovidelsie Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Haslett High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Laingsburg High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- New Lothrop High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shiawassee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shiawassee 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 Shiawassee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Shiawassee County suits
Families
Schools land around the 21st percentile and crime safety beats 90%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Shiawassee County
Is Shiawassee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shiawassee County ranks 1,711th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, low crime, and few empty homes, 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 Shiawassee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $185,589. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $70,322 median income, cost of living beats 57% of counties.
Is Shiawassee County safe?
Yes, Shiawassee 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 Shiawassee County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 19. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Shiawassee County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Perry & Laingsburg, Owosso, and Morrice. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Shiawassee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shiawassee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shiawassee 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.
Shiawassee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shiawassee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shiawassee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shiawassee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shiawassee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shiawassee 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.