Best PlacesZenith Heights, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Zenith Heights, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Zenith Heights ranks 8,193rd 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 Zenith Heights
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.
Zenith Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Zenith Heights ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
Where Zenith Heights ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Zenith Heights
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Zenith Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $92,432; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Zenith Heights' effective rate of 0.75%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Zenith Heights
Zenith Heights runs older than the country, 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 Zenith Heights.
Who works in Zenith Heights, and how
Work in Zenith Heights centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Zenith Heights
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Zenith Heights.
What the weather is like in Zenith Heights, month by month
Zenith Heights sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 23° | 18° |
| April | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 58° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Zenith Heights
The nearest airport, Pellston Regional/Emmet County, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 217 miles away.
The best schools in and around Zenith Heights
Schools across Zenith Heights average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Boyne City Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Sheridan SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Petoskey Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Boyne City Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Petoskey High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Boyne City High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Zenith Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Zenith Heights 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 Zenith Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Zenith Heights
Is Zenith Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Zenith Heights ranks 8,193rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and low crime, and lowest on car insurance costs and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Zenith Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $358,461. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $92,432 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Zenith Heights safe?
Yes, Zenith Heights is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $173 per resident a year.
Compare Zenith Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Zenith Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Zenith Heights 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.
Zenith Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Zenith Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Zenith Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Zenith Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Zenith Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Zenith Heights 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.