Best PlacesWetzel, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wetzel, 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.
Wetzel ranks 41,454th 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 Wetzel
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.
Wetzel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wetzel ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 78% of towns
- Cheap childcare$642 a month, better than 74% of towns
Where Wetzel ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wetzel
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wetzel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,502, 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 Wetzel's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Wetzel
Wetzel 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 Wetzel.
Who works in Wetzel, and how
Work in Wetzel centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Wetzel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wetzel.
What the weather is like in Wetzel, month by month
Wetzel sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 19° |
| April | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 59° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Wetzel
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 198 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wetzel
Schools across Wetzel average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mancelona Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- John R Rodger Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mancelona Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- East Jordan Middlehigh SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Mancelona High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wetzel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wetzel 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 Wetzel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wetzel
Is Wetzel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wetzel ranks 41,454th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and tree cover, 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 Wetzel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,123. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $62,502 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Wetzel safe?
Wetzel is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $539 per resident a year.
Compare Wetzel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wetzel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wetzel 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.
Wetzel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wetzel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wetzel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wetzel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wetzel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wetzel 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.