Best PlacesWexford County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wexford County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wexford County ranks 1,753rd of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Wexford County
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.
The best areas in Wexford County
The parts of Wexford County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Cadillac
Fewer homes sit empty, biking is better, and commutes are shorter.
Mesick
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Manton
More households have young kids and crime runs lower.
Scores across Wexford County run from about the 10th to the 68th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wexford County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wexford County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 78% of counties
- TransitBetter than 77% of counties
Where Wexford County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wexford County
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wexford County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,818, 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 Wexford County's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 Wexford County
Wexford County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wexford County.
Who works in Wexford County, and how
Work in Wexford County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wexford County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wexford County.
Is Wexford County growing, and who is moving in?
Wexford County has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Missaukee County, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wexford County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wexford County, month by month
Wexford County sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 22° | 16° |
| April | 54° | 42° | 31° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 56° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Wexford County
The nearest airport, Cherry Capital, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 153 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wexford County
Schools across Wexford County average a C+, better than 56% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kingsley Area Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Pine River Area Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Manton Consolidated Elem SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mackinaw Trail Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Kingsley Area Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Manton Consolidated Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Cadillac Senior High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Kingsley Area High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Cadillac Innovation High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wexford County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wexford County 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 Wexford County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wexford County suits
Retirees
The weather beats 60% of counties, health care access beats 67%, and it is quieter than 62%.
Common questions about living in Wexford County
Is Wexford County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wexford County ranks 1,753rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and civic engagement, 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 Wexford County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $179,170. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $64,818 median income, cost of living beats 38% of counties.
Is Wexford County safe?
Yes, Wexford County is safer than 74% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wexford County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 28 with lows near 16. That works out to about 100 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wexford County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cadillac, Mesick, and Manton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Wexford County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wexford County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wexford County 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.
Wexford County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wexford County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wexford County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wexford County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wexford County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wexford County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.