Best PlacesSugar Rapids, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sugar Rapids, 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.
Sugar Rapids ranks 35,843rd 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 Sugar Rapids
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.
Sugar Rapids' strengths and weaknesses
Where Sugar Rapids ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 79% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 78% of towns
Where Sugar Rapids ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 20% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sugar Rapids
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sugar Rapids home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,674, 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 Sugar Rapids' effective rate of 1.01%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sugar Rapids
Sugar Rapids 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 Sugar Rapids.
Who works in Sugar Rapids, and how
Work in Sugar Rapids centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above 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 3%
Life in Sugar Rapids
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sugar Rapids.
What the weather is like in Sugar Rapids, month by month
Sugar Rapids sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 55° | 42° | 31° |
| July | 83° | 70° | 56° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Sugar Rapids
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 141 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sugar Rapids
Schools across Sugar Rapids average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Surline Elementary SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Gladwin Intermediate SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Collins Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gladwin Junior High SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Surline Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Ogemaw Heights High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Gladwin High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Houghton Lake Jrsr High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sugar Rapids school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sugar Rapids 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 Sugar Rapids against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sugar Rapids
Is Sugar Rapids a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sugar Rapids ranks 35,843rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, quiet, and health care access, and lowest on car insurance costs and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sugar Rapids expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $189,833. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $62,674 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Sugar Rapids safe?
Sugar Rapids is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $338 per resident a year.
Compare Sugar Rapids with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sugar Rapids. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sugar Rapids 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.
Sugar Rapids detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sugar Rapids: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sugar Rapids: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sugar Rapids: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sugar Rapids: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sugar Rapids 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.