Neighborhood Scorecard

The neighborhood scorecard for ZIP 49120 in Niles, MI blends seven federal datasets into a single letter grade of C+ (62/100). The underlying inputs pulled for this ZIP include a median household income of $65,148, a median home value of $178,400, 20.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher, and an average commute of 23 minutes. Every value comes directly from Census ACS 5-Year Estimates tied to ZIP 49120, not a national average mapped onto the ZIP.

Cross-agency inputs extend the score beyond Census demographics. Department of Labor county childcare data lists infant center-based care at $7,131 per year, which the scorecard weighs against local median income to form the childcare grade. If any of these feeds is missing for 49120, the scorecard transparently drops that dimension rather than inventing a score.

Reading the grade means reading the dimensions together. The overall C+ score for 49120 reflects a weighted blend — Income (20%), Safety (20%), Housing (15%), Rent (15%), Education (10%), Commute (10%), and Childcare (10%) — and each dimension is benchmarked against national percentiles rather than in-state-only comparisons. Strengths visible in the raw data include housing, rent, childcare. Areas pulling the overall grade down are education. The 6 nearby ZIP codes listed below provide immediate geographic context — two adjacent ZIPs can land several grade letters apart due to school-district boundaries, zoning, and commute arteries.