Best PlacesYale, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Yale, 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.
Yale ranks 31,321st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Yale
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.
Yale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Yale ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
Where Yale ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute37.4 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 22% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Yale
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,499, 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 Yale's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Yale
Yale's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Yale.
Who works in Yale, and how
Work in Yale centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Yale
Yale has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Yale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Yale, month by month
Yale sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 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° | 26° | 20° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Yale
The nearest airport, Bishop International, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 69 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yale
Schools across Yale average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Yale Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Avoca Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- John F Farrellemmett Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Yale Junior High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Croswelllexington Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Yale Senior High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Croswelllexington High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Brown City High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yale 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 Yale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Yale
Is Yale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yale ranks 31,321st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, fast internet, 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 Yale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $176,683. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $63,499 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Yale safe?
Yes, Yale is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Yale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yale 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.
Yale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yale 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.