Best PlacesSodus, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sodus, 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.
Sodus ranks 20,705th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sodus
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.
Sodus' strengths and weaknesses
Where Sodus ranks high
- Short commute15.6 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 86% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Sodus ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sodus
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sodus home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,217, 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 Sodus' effective rate of 0.95%, 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 Sodus
Sodus 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 Sodus.
Who works in Sodus, and how
Work in Sodus 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 81%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Sodus
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sodus.
What the weather is like in Sodus, month by month
Sodus sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Sodus
The nearest airport, South Bend International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sodus
Schools across Sodus average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- River SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Sylvester Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Lybrook Elementary SchoolF · 7% proficient
Top middle schools
- Berrien Springs Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Eau Claire Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Fair Plain Middle SchoolF · 2% proficient
Top high schools
- Berrien Springs High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Eau Claire High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
- Benton Harbor High SchoolF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sodus school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sodus 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 Sodus against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sodus
Is Sodus a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sodus ranks 20,705th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, big-city access, and few empty homes, and lowest on the schools 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 Sodus expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,608. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $83,217 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Sodus safe?
Yes, Sodus is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $228 per resident a year.
Compare Sodus with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sodus. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sodus 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.
Sodus detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sodus: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sodus: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sodus: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sodus: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sodus 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.