Best PlacesWaters, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waters, 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.
Waters ranks 34,648th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waters
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.
Waters' strengths and weaknesses
Where Waters ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap childcare$593 a month, better than 79% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 78% of towns
Where Waters ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waters
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waters home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,951, 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 Waters' effective rate of 0.84%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Waters
Waters 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 Waters.
Who works in Waters, and how
Work in Waters centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Waters
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Waters.
What the weather is like in Waters, month by month
Waters sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 20° | 15° |
| April | 51° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 67° | 58° |
| October | 56° | 47° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Waters
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 194 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waters
Schools across Waters average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Maple Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Grayling Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Johannesburglewiston Elementarymiddle SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Grayling Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Gaylord Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Grayling High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Gaylord High Schoolvoc BldgB− · 42% proficient
- Johannesburglewiston High SchoolC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waters school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waters 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 Waters against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waters
Is Waters a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waters ranks 34,648th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, health care access, and tree cover, 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 Waters expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $188,127. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $69,951 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Waters safe?
Waters is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $336 per resident a year.
Compare Waters with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waters. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waters 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.
Waters detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waters: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waters: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waters: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waters: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waters 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.