Best PlacesSummit City, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Summit City, 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.
Summit City ranks 27,695th 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 Summit City
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.
Summit City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Summit City ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 78% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of towns
Where Summit City ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Summit City
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Summit City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,379, 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 Summit City's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Summit City
Summit City runs younger than the country, 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 Summit City.
Who works in Summit City, and how
Work in Summit City centers on construction and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Summit City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Summit City.
What the weather is like in Summit City, month by month
Summit City sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Summit City
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Summit City
Schools across Summit City average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kingsley Area Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Manton Consolidated Elem SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Fife Lake Elementary SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kingsley Area Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Manton Consolidated Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Forest Area Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Kingsley Area High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Mesick Consolidated Jrsr High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Forest Area High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Summit City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Summit City 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 Summit City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Summit City
Is Summit City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Summit City ranks 27,695th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low crime, and heat safety, and lowest on car insurance costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Summit City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $281,084. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $76,379 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Summit City safe?
Yes, Summit City is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $197 per resident a year.
Compare Summit City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Summit City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Summit City 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.
Summit City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Summit City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Summit City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Summit City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Summit City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Summit City 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.