Best PlacesSparta, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sparta, 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.
Sparta ranks 10,589th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sparta
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.
Sparta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sparta ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Sparta ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 23% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sparta
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sparta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,552, 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 Sparta's effective rate of 1.09%, 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 Sparta
Sparta's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sparta.
Who works in Sparta, and how
Work in Sparta 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 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sparta
Sparta has more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sparta and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sparta, month by month
Sparta sees roughly 69 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° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Sparta
The nearest airport, Gerald R Ford International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sparta
Schools across Sparta average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Valley View Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Belmont Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Beach Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Rockford Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Cedar Springs Middle SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Sparta Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Cedar Springs High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Sparta Senior High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sparta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sparta 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 Sparta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sparta
Is Sparta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sparta ranks 10,589th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, few empty homes, 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 Sparta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $268,837. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $88,552 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Sparta safe?
Yes, Sparta is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
Compare Sparta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sparta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sparta 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.
Sparta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sparta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sparta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sparta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sparta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sparta 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.