Best PlacesWestwood, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westwood, 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.
Westwood ranks 11,752nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Westwood
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.
Westwood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westwood ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
Where Westwood ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Westwood
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westwood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $65,759; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Westwood's effective rate of 1.73%, 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 Westwood
Westwood runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Westwood.
Who works in Westwood, and how
Work in Westwood centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Westwood
Westwood has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Westwood and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Westwood, month by month
Westwood sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 27° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 86° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Westwood
The nearest airport, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago Midway International, about 114 miles away.
The best schools in and around Westwood
Schools across Westwood average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kingwestwood Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Woodland Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hillside Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Linden Grove Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Kalamazoo Central High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Portage Northern High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westwood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westwood 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 Westwood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Westwood
Is Westwood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westwood ranks 11,752nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and cell coverage, and lowest on car insurance costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Westwood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $233,261. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $65,759 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Westwood safe?
Westwood is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $395 per resident a year.
Compare Westwood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westwood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westwood 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.
Westwood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westwood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westwood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westwood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westwood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westwood 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.