Best PlacesVan Buren County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Van Buren County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Van Buren County ranks 1,659th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Van Buren County
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.
The best areas in Van Buren County
The parts of Van Buren County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Paw Paw & Mattawan
Fewer homes sit empty, more households have young kids, and prices have run up less.
Lawton
Crime runs lower and local pay stretches further.
Gobles
It is quieter and tree cover is thicker.
South Haven
Biking is better, though homes cost more.
Decatur
Fewer adults hold degrees and schools score lower.
Bangor & Lawrence
Hartford
Fewer residents vote and incomes run lower.
Scores across Van Buren County run from about the 3rd to the 87th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Van Buren County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Van Buren County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 84% of counties
Where Van Buren County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Van Buren County
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Van Buren County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,350, 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 Van Buren County's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 Van Buren County
Van Buren County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Van Buren County.
Who works in Van Buren County, and how
Work in Van Buren County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Van Buren County
Van Buren County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less late-night activity than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Van Buren County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Van Buren County growing, and who is moving in?
Van Buren County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Kalamazoo, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Van Buren County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Van Buren County, month by month
Van Buren County sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 57° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Van Buren County
The nearest airport, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Van Buren County
Schools across Van Buren County average a C−, better than 26% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Wood School Bangor Twp 8A+ · 75% proficient
- Mattawan Later Elem SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Washington Street Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mattawan Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Paw Paw Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Otsego Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Mattawan High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Otsego High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Paw Paw High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Van Buren County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Van Buren County 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 Van Buren County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Van Buren County suits
Families
Schools land around the 26th percentile and crime safety beats 92%.
Common questions about living in Van Buren County
Is Van Buren County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Van Buren County ranks 1,659th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, big-city access, 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 Van Buren County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $218,379. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $69,350 median income, cost of living beats 47% of counties.
Is Van Buren County safe?
Yes, Van Buren County is safer than 92% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Van Buren County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 23. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 39% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Van Buren County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Paw Paw & Mattawan, Lawton, and Gobles. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Van Buren County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Van Buren County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Van Buren County 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.
Van Buren County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Van Buren County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Van Buren County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Van Buren County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Van Buren County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Van Buren County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.