Best PlacesWillis, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willis, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Willis ranks 14,681st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Willis
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.
Willis' strengths and weaknesses
Where Willis ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
Where Willis ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,073 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Willis
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $99,255, 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 Willis' effective rate of 1.12%, 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 Willis
Willis runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Willis.
Who works in Willis, and how
Work in Willis centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Willis
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Willis.
What the weather is like in Willis, month by month
Willis sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Willis
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 12 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Willis
Schools across Willis average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rawsonville Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
- Brick Elementary SchoolD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- Milan Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Lincoln Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Milan High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Belleville High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Lincoln Senior High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willis 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 Willis against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Willis
Is Willis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willis ranks 14,681st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, population health, and what local pay buys, 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 Willis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $248,142. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $99,255 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Willis safe?
Yes, Willis is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
Compare Willis with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willis 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.
Willis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willis 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.