The 10 Cheapest Grand Rapids, MI Neighborhoods To Live In For 2024


The cheapest Grand Rapids neighborhoods are Black Hills and Cherry Run for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

By: Chris Kolmar | About HomeSnacks
Last Updated: January 27, 2024
Worst Neighborhoods In Grand Rapids
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Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.

I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.

And while every neighbhorhood in Grand Rapids might be more expensive than living in rural Michigan, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.

What exactly are those Grand Rapids neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?

Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Grand Rapids are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.

The Cheapest Neighborhoods In Grand Rapids For 2024

  1. Black Hills
  2. Cherry Run
  3. Garfield Park
  4. Westside Connection
  5. Fuller Avenue
  6. Roosevelt Park
  7. Alger Heights
  8. Fulton Heights
  9. Highland Park
  10. Eastgate

What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Grand Rapids for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Black Hills looks to be the cheapest Grand Rapids neighborhood to live in.

At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Grand Rapids. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.

Read on to see how we determined the places around Grand Rapids that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Grand Rapids.

For more Michigan reading, check out:

Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Grand Rapids For 2024

1. Black Hills

Overall SnackAbility

1
/10

Population: 590
Cost Of Living Index: 81 (cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.3 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (18th cheapest)
More on Black Hills: Data | Real Estate

2. Cherry Run

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 739
Cost Of Living Index: 87 (11th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.1 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (4th cheapest)
More on Cherry Run: Data | Real Estate

3. Garfield Park

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 17,372
Cost Of Living Index: 85 (5th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (17th cheapest)
More on Garfield Park: Data | Real Estate

4. Westside Connection

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 11,928
Cost Of Living Index: 87 (11th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.5 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (6th cheapest)
More on Westside Connection: Data | Real Estate

5. Fuller Avenue

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,019
Cost Of Living Index: 85 (5th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (20th cheapest)
More on Fuller Avenue: Data | Real Estate

6. Roosevelt Park

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 6,380
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.2 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (23rd cheapest)
More on Roosevelt Park: Data | Real Estate

7. Alger Heights

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 4,344
Cost Of Living Index: 87 (11th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.4 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (10th cheapest)
More on Alger Heights: Data | Real Estate

8. Fulton Heights

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 1,034
Cost Of Living Index: 92 (23rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.0 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (5th cheapest)
More on Fulton Heights: Data | Real Estate

9. Highland Park

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 3,324
Cost Of Living Index: 87 (11th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.3 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (13th cheapest)
More on Highland Park: Data | Real Estate

10. Eastgate

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 701
Cost Of Living Index: 91 (22nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.6 (14th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.008 (cheapest)
More on Eastgate: Data | Real Estate

Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Grand Rapids Hoods In 2024

To rank the cheapest places to live in Grand Rapids, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.

Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:

  • Overall Cost Of Living
  • Rent To Income Ratio
  • Median Home Value To Income Ratio

We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 32 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.

And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Grand Rapids.” We’re lookin’ at you, Black Hills.

We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Grand Rapids. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.

Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Grand Rapids

If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Grand Rapids where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.

The most affordable neighborhoods in Grand Rapids are Black Hills, Cherry Run, Garfield Park, Westside Connection, Fuller Avenue, Roosevelt Park, Alger Heights, Fulton Heights, Highland Park, and Eastgate.

As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Grand Rapids aren’t all cheap. Heartside takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Grand Rapids.

The most expensive neighborhoods in Grand Rapids are Heartside, Ottawa Hills, Heritage Hill, Belknap Lookout, and South Hill.

We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.

For more Michigan reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Grand Rapids For 2024

Rank Neighborhood Cost Of Living Index
1 Black Hills 81
2 Cherry Run 87
3 Garfield Park 85
4 Westside Connection 87
5 Fuller Avenue 85
6 Roosevelt Park 83
7 Alger Heights 87
8 Fulton Heights 92
9 Highland Park 87
10 Eastgate 91
11 South East End 88
12 Oakdale 85
13 Michgan Oaks 95
14 Creston 89
15 Baxter 89
16 Norteast Citizens Action 95
17 West Grand 86
18 John Ball Park 89
19 Madison Area 85
20 Midtown 88
21 East Hills 93
22 Millbrook 87
23 South East Community 85
24 Eastown 97
25 Auburn Hill 90
26 Swan 88
27 Ridgemoor 100
28 South Hill 88
29 Belknap Lookout 95
30 Heritage Hill 96
31 Ottawa Hills 94
32 Heartside 102
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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