Best PlacesWestland, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westland, 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.
Westland ranks 1,757th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Westland
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.
Westland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westland ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of cities
- Cheap childcare$834 a month, better than 78% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 74% of cities
- BikingBetter than 71% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 71% of cities
Where Westland ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Westland
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,024, 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 Westland's effective rate of 1.34%, 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 Westland
Westland's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Westland.
Who works in Westland, and how
Work in Westland centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Westland
Westland has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of cities and more parkland per resident than 97% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Westland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Westland, month by month
Westland sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Westland
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Westland
Schools across Westland average a C−, better than 27% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Webster Elementary SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
- Hayes Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Walkerwinter Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frost Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Johnson Upper Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Emerson Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Churchill High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Wayne Memorial High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Franklin High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westland 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 Westland against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Westland suits
Common questions about living in Westland
Is Westland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westland ranks 1,757th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, affordable childcare, and walkability, 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 Westland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $189,633. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $66,024 median income, cost of living beats 19% of cities.
Is Westland safe?
Westland is safer than 14% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $483 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Westland?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 20. That works out to about 63 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of cities.
Is Westland good for families?
Schools beat 27% of cities, crime safety beats 14%, and childcare runs $834 a month.
Compare Westland with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westland 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.
Westland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westland 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.