Best PlacesWheeler, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wheeler, 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.
Wheeler ranks 23,901st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Wheeler
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.
Wheeler's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wheeler ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of towns
Where Wheeler ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wheeler
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wheeler home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,802, 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 Wheeler's effective rate of 1.09%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wheeler
Wheeler runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wheeler.
Who works in Wheeler, and how
Work in Wheeler centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wheeler
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wheeler.
What the weather is like in Wheeler, month by month
Wheeler sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 20° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Wheeler
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 101 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wheeler
Schools across Wheeler average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Breckenridge Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Merrill Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bullock Creek Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Ts Nurnberger Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Merrill Middle SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Ithaca High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Breckenridge High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- St Louis High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wheeler school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wheeler 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 Wheeler against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wheeler
Is Wheeler a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wheeler ranks 23,901st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, heat safety, and quiet, and lowest on car insurance costs and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wheeler expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $134,248. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $72,802 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Wheeler safe?
Yes, Wheeler is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $230 per resident a year.
Compare Wheeler with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wheeler. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wheeler 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.
Wheeler detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wheeler: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wheeler: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wheeler: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wheeler: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wheeler 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.