Best PlacesWiley, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wiley, 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.
Wiley ranks 33,156th 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 Wiley
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.
Wiley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wiley ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute21.6 minutes each way, better than 82% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
Where Wiley ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wiley
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wiley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,660, 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 Wiley's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wiley
Wiley runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wiley.
Who works in Wiley, and how
Work in Wiley centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Wiley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wiley.
What the weather is like in Wiley, month by month
Wiley sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 26° | 22° |
| April | 53° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 79° | 69° | 60° |
| October | 60° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Wiley
The nearest airport, Manistee County/Blacker, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wiley
Schools across Wiley average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ludington Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Mason County Eastern Elem SchC− · 28% proficient
- Mason County Central Upper ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oj Dejonge Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Mason County Central MsD+ · 25% proficient
- Hart Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Mason County Eastern Junior Highhigh SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Hart High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wiley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wiley 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 Wiley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wiley
Is Wiley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wiley ranks 33,156th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and health care access, and lowest on car insurance costs and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wiley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $204,384. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $64,660 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Wiley safe?
Yes, Wiley is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.
Compare Wiley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wiley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wiley 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.
Wiley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wiley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wiley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wiley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wiley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wiley 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.