Best PlacesWatervliet, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Watervliet, 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.
Watervliet ranks 35,450th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on fast internet.
The best neighborhoods in Watervliet
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.
Watervliet's strengths and weaknesses
Where Watervliet ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
- BikingBetter than 77% of towns
Where Watervliet ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 15% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Watervliet
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Watervliet home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,895, 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 Watervliet's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 Watervliet
Watervliet's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Watervliet.
Who works in Watervliet, and how
Work in Watervliet centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Watervliet
Watervliet has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Watervliet and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Watervliet, month by month
Watervliet sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Watervliet
The nearest airport, South Bend International, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Watervliet
Schools across Watervliet average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Coloma Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Sister Lakes Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Watervliet Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Dowagiac Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Watervliet Senior High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Coloma High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Way Watervliet High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Watervliet school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Watervliet 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 Watervliet against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Watervliet
Is Watervliet a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Watervliet ranks 35,450th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, low disaster risk, and big-city access, and lowest on car insurance costs and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Watervliet expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,003. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $57,895 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Watervliet safe?
Watervliet is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $337 per resident a year.
Compare Watervliet with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Watervliet. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Watervliet 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.
Watervliet detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Watervliet: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Watervliet: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Watervliet: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Watervliet: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Watervliet 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.