Best PlacesTawas City, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tawas 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.
Tawas City ranks 28,307th 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 Tawas 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.
Tawas City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tawas City ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.3 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 86% of towns
Where Tawas City ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Household income$57,210 median, better than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tawas City
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tawas City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,210, 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 Tawas City's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Tawas City
Tawas City 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 Tawas City.
Who works in Tawas City, and how
Work in Tawas City centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Tawas City
Tawas City has more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Tawas City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tawas City, month by month
Tawas City sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Tawas City
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tawas City
Schools across Tawas City average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Au Gressims Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Clara B Bolen Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Whittemoreprescott Area ElementaryF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tawas Area Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Au Gressims Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Au Gressims High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Tawas Area High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Alternative Educational Academy Of Iosco CountyD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tawas City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tawas 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 Tawas City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tawas City
Is Tawas City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tawas City ranks 28,307th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, civic engagement, and transit, 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 Tawas City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,582. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $57,210 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Tawas City safe?
Yes, Tawas City is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $314 per resident a year.
Compare Tawas City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tawas City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tawas 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.
Tawas City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tawas City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tawas City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tawas City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tawas City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tawas 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.