Best PlacesSlocum, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Slocum, 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.
Slocum ranks 14,609th 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 Slocum
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.
Slocum's strengths and weaknesses
Where Slocum ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Slocum ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Slocum
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Slocum home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,547, 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 Slocum's effective rate of 0.99%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Slocum
Slocum's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Slocum.
Who works in Slocum, and how
Work in Slocum 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 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Slocum
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Slocum.
What the weather is like in Slocum, month by month
Slocum sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 26° | 21° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Slocum
The nearest airport, Muskegon County, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Slocum
Schools across Slocum average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kent City Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Beechnau Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kent City Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Ravenna Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Ravenna High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Slocum school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Slocum 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 Slocum against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Slocum
Is Slocum a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Slocum ranks 14,609th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, low crime, and low disaster risk, 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 Slocum expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,827. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $82,547 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Slocum safe?
Yes, Slocum is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $162 per resident a year.
Compare Slocum with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Slocum. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Slocum 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.
Slocum detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Slocum: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Slocum: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Slocum: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Slocum: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Slocum 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.