Best PlacesWalloon Lake, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walloon Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Walloon Lake ranks 7,822nd 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 Walloon Lake
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.
Walloon Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walloon Lake ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute18.6 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
Where Walloon Lake ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Walloon Lake
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walloon Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,924, 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 Walloon Lake's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Walloon Lake
Walloon Lake 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 Walloon Lake.
Who works in Walloon Lake, and how
Work in Walloon Lake centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Walloon Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Walloon Lake.
What the weather is like in Walloon Lake, month by month
Walloon Lake sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 23° | 18° |
| April | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 58° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Walloon Lake
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 217 miles away.
The best schools in and around Walloon Lake
Schools across Walloon Lake average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Boyne City Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Boyne City Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Boyne City High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walloon Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walloon Lake 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 Walloon Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Walloon Lake
Is Walloon Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walloon Lake ranks 7,822nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and health care access, and lowest on car insurance costs and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Walloon Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $266,007. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $93,924 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Walloon Lake safe?
Yes, Walloon Lake is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $207 per resident a year.
Compare Walloon Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walloon Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walloon Lake 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.
Walloon Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walloon Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walloon Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walloon Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walloon Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walloon Lake 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.