Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would sure be interested if someone could tell me about living in Petoskey. Quality of life, crime, housing and cost of living. Is the snow oppressive? Is it hard to get around in the winter? Any thoughts you might have.
TL/DR -
Quality of life is great if you like a smaller town living and don't miss or desire the things about living in a larger metro region. Also if you appreciate all the things the woods / water / lakes and northern Michigan has to over its an excellent place to live.
Winter is relatively long and gloomy, spring is cool and wet, summer is short but intense and awesome, fall is awesome but also short.
Crime - non existant, but there is a nasty amount of addition and generational poverty lurking below the surface once you get away from the well-money and/or lakefront communities
Housing - cost of living is extremely high compared to the the prevaling wages in the are. Major shortage of affordable housing.
Cost of living - relatively high in comparison to wages
Snow oppressive - that is all relative based on your experience / familiarity with snow and winter. Typically snow on the ground from mid-November through late March/early April. 120+ inches of snow per year. Truly only a handful of days per year that are really difficult to get around to the point were snow crews can't keep up with the snowfall rates. But, a lot of days with a pedestrian couple inches of snow here or there. A car with good snow tires will get you around town just fine, but recommended to have a 4WD if you live more out in the backwoods / rural areas / gravel roads that don't get plowed or treated as frequently.
A few thing I've posted before regarding Petoskey as someone who has spend a good portion of time in the area over the past 30+ years.
You need to look at it from the perspective of living there year-round - the good, bad, and ugly.
My wife and I debated moving up north and setting down in the area but we ultimately decided not to simply because of the lack of job opportunities. In my line of work, I would basically have been at the mercy of 1-2 employers in the region.
Much of Northwestern Lower Peninsula from Ludington all the way up to Mackinac City is all resorter/tourism, service-based economy, retirees, and a strong undercurrent of generational poverty behind the scenes. The good paying jobs are basically the professional services, medical, or municipal related jobs. Most of the regions' wealth is imported from other areas.
A lot of retirees and/or tele-commuter types that can work from anywhere.
If you can run your existing business and income then you are in good shape.
Like said, the weather and long winter is a big deal. This is the region of the "12 week summer" that you have to take advantage of as it goes quick. The best weather is typically from mid-June through mid-Sept. Falls are short but a beautiful time from Mid-Sept through mid-Oct. The weather is heavily influenced by the proximity to Lake Michigan.
A normal winter will have snow cover on the ground from Mid-November to Mid-April. Springs are cold and wet and it takes a long time to warm up and green up, and it really doesn't start to get decent until almost mid-May in most years.
You better get into winter sports/recreation to get through the long winter, there is a lot to do if you enjoy being outside in the snow.
If you love the outdoors, the water, the woods then its perfect and its a great stepping-stone to a lot of other locations to visit throughout Northern Michigan and the UP.
Also, something to consider if you wife is going to be a teacher; The natural beauty, tourism, and vacationer/retiree wealth masks the underlying problems of the area. The future is bleak for many of younger people of Northern Michigan. Most children who grow up there have to leave to find good-paying jobs. There is also a high degree of poverty and drug use in Northern Michigan, especially once you get away from the well-money'd gold coast areas.
---
Petoskey area, like many tourism-based economies have similar parallels in they are desirable places to live if you have the income and wealth that can be brought in from elsewhere. The vast number of vacation homes/properties provides for a strong tax base without the corresponding demand for services.
Petoskey like many of the tourist towns along Lake Michigan is struggling with affordable housing and also to prevent the vacation rentals (VRBO, AirBnB) from taking over the community from year-round residents, especially in-town neighborhoods.
There is a small but vibrant community of entrepreneurs, particularly in the food/beer industry, arts, and local-movements throughout the region that are trying to grow small businesses.
---
My wife and I considered moving permanently to the area to put down roots, but ultimately decided not to because of the job situation up there and just limited opportunities in my field/pay.
1. I don't know a ton of particulars about the school district in the region. Petoskey Schools at first glance seem very good though, are large enough to have the resources, good buildings, recently put a lot of money into high school. I don't know if they do/allow open enrollment, I think so but don't know for sure. Petoskey and Harbor Springs are the two biggest school districts in the county. Alanson is much smaller, poorer, and doesn't have the resources of the others.
2. Yes, usually a lot of festivals and events. Some more catered toward tourists, some more geared toward locals. All good, and nowhere near the large scale craziness like the big TC festivals. Seems like a great place to raise children, if you enjoy the outdoors and natural resources the region has to offer, and embrace/can stand winter. (you live in TC so you probably already know all of this).
3. Order of magnitude smaller in scale. Nowhere near the traffic, crowds, and bustle of TC. Things really slow down a lot outside of peak summer and fall colors weekends.
4. Land and houses with property, at least at first glance seem relatively plentiful away from the lakefront/waterfront properties in the more resorter/vacation home focused areas. Building is going to be a challenge, as like you said, there is a limited supply of builders/trades/contractors and all would rather build large custom mega-cottages. Its hard to get a builder to do something for under $500K, since most builders are already super busy doing much larger/more expensive/more profitable jobs.
5. Administrative / clerical jobs always seem to be in demand in the region. However, like you probably already know being in Northern Michigan, most jobs are some combination of part-time and/or low pay. There is a labor shortage, amplified this year with all the COVID related stuff, but a lot of employers just can't/won't pay compared to what can be made in other regions. I always see help wanted stuff for things at schools, retirement homes, hotels, small business but usually stuff like 15-30 hours a week and for like $12-$15/hour. Good for supplementary / second income, challenging for a primary income.
We moved up from Philly, the people up here are great but the winters are longer but I enjoy skiing and such so I've been ok with it. The further east you go from Lake Michigan the cheaper the houses get, but its also a bit more run down towns compared to the upscale towns along US-31.
I would also sy be careful of getting too rural, I wish we had landed in one of the towns and not in the country as that I've had to fight some isolation feelings.
Pay is very low compared to other areas downstate. I think the saying is "A view of the bay means half the pay". The businesses in the area really take advantage of lower level employees that might have skills that would be paid a higher wage in other areas of the state or country. And like always, this doesn't affect executive level positions -- they make out like bandits. Most jobs are in the service sector which are traditionally low paying and low skill.
The other issue which was already touched upon is the weather. There's a lot of snow but that's not the real issue. It's the number of cloudy days per year (mostly in the fall/winter/spring). Things turn around in the summer but the number of cloudy days is similar to Washington state or Alaska. I grew up in the area and this was the thing that bugged me the most and the biggest change that I noticed when I moved out of the area. The other weird thing is that fall and spring are extremely short seasons in MI compared to most areas of the country. The summers are normally very nice but the occasional heat wave does hit with muggy conditions and not all of the houses have air conditioning since it's normally not required.
Traffic in the summer can be awful. Towns like Petoskey are not setup for it like larger cities would be. Also, larger cities are further than they would be in other states. If you need something in a larger town, you need to go down to Grand Rapids, Lansing, or Ann Arbor. That's 200-250 miles depending on where you're heading. Traverse City is closer but isn't really a big city -- just bigger than Petoskey.
I grew up in Boyne City but worked up in Petoskey for a while. I'm currently in central TN after being given the option to live anywhere. I didn't have to worry about a job or the pay scales in MI and still chose to live somewhere else even with family still in the area. Part of it was the state's politics and how they handled Covid. Part of it was the state income tax and property tax. Most of it was the weather. Michigan just has some of the worst weather overall in the country. You just don't realize the differences until living in other areas of the country.
TL/DR -
Quality of life is great if you like a smaller town living and don't miss or desire the things about living in a larger metro region. Also if you appreciate all the things the woods / water / lakes and northern Michigan has to over its an excellent place to live.
Winter is relatively long and gloomy, spring is cool and wet, summer is short but intense and awesome, fall is awesome but also short.
Crime - non existant, but there is a nasty amount of addition and generational poverty lurking below the surface once you get away from the well-money and/or lakefront communities
Housing - cost of living is extremely high compared to the the prevaling wages in the are. Major shortage of affordable housing.
Cost of living - relatively high in comparison to wages
Snow oppressive - that is all relative based on your experience / familiarity with snow and winter. Typically snow on the ground from mid-November through late March/early April. 120+ inches of snow per year. Truly only a handful of days per year that are really difficult to get around to the point were snow crews can't keep up with the snowfall rates. But, a lot of days with a pedestrian couple inches of snow here or there. A car with good snow tires will get you around town just fine, but recommended to have a 4WD if you live more out in the backwoods / rural areas / gravel roads that don't get plowed or treated as frequently.
A few thing I've posted before regarding Petoskey as someone who has spend a good portion of time in the area over the past 30+ years.
You need to look at it from the perspective of living there year-round - the good, bad, and ugly.
My wife and I debated moving up north and setting down in the area but we ultimately decided not to simply because of the lack of job opportunities. In my line of work, I would basically have been at the mercy of 1-2 employers in the region.
Much of Northwestern Lower Peninsula from Ludington all the way up to Mackinac City is all resorter/tourism, service-based economy, retirees, and a strong undercurrent of generational poverty behind the scenes. The good paying jobs are basically the professional services, medical, or municipal related jobs. Most of the regions' wealth is imported from other areas.
A lot of retirees and/or tele-commuter types that can work from anywhere.
If you can run your existing business and income then you are in good shape.
Like said, the weather and long winter is a big deal. This is the region of the "12 week summer" that you have to take advantage of as it goes quick. The best weather is typically from mid-June through mid-Sept. Falls are short but a beautiful time from Mid-Sept through mid-Oct. The weather is heavily influenced by the proximity to Lake Michigan.
A normal winter will have snow cover on the ground from Mid-November to Mid-April. Springs are cold and wet and it takes a long time to warm up and green up, and it really doesn't start to get decent until almost mid-May in most years.
You better get into winter sports/recreation to get through the long winter, there is a lot to do if you enjoy being outside in the snow.
If you love the outdoors, the water, the woods then its perfect and its a great stepping-stone to a lot of other locations to visit throughout Northern Michigan and the UP.
Also, something to consider if you wife is going to be a teacher; The natural beauty, tourism, and vacationer/retiree wealth masks the underlying problems of the area. The future is bleak for many of younger people of Northern Michigan. Most children who grow up there have to leave to find good-paying jobs. There is also a high degree of poverty and drug use in Northern Michigan, especially once you get away from the well-money'd gold coast areas.
---
Petoskey area, like many tourism-based economies have similar parallels in they are desirable places to live if you have the income and wealth that can be brought in from elsewhere. The vast number of vacation homes/properties provides for a strong tax base without the corresponding demand for services.
Petoskey like many of the tourist towns along Lake Michigan is struggling with affordable housing and also to prevent the vacation rentals (VRBO, AirBnB) from taking over the community from year-round residents, especially in-town neighborhoods.
There is a small but vibrant community of entrepreneurs, particularly in the food/beer industry, arts, and local-movements throughout the region that are trying to grow small businesses.
---
My wife and I considered moving permanently to the area to put down roots, but ultimately decided not to because of the job situation up there and just limited opportunities in my field/pay.
1. I don't know a ton of particulars about the school district in the region. Petoskey Schools at first glance seem very good though, are large enough to have the resources, good buildings, recently put a lot of money into high school. I don't know if they do/allow open enrollment, I think so but don't know for sure. Petoskey and Harbor Springs are the two biggest school districts in the county. Alanson is much smaller, poorer, and doesn't have the resources of the others.
2. Yes, usually a lot of festivals and events. Some more catered toward tourists, some more geared toward locals. All good, and nowhere near the large scale craziness like the big TC festivals. Seems like a great place to raise children, if you enjoy the outdoors and natural resources the region has to offer, and embrace/can stand winter. (you live in TC so you probably already know all of this).
3. Order of magnitude smaller in scale. Nowhere near the traffic, crowds, and bustle of TC. Things really slow down a lot outside of peak summer and fall colors weekends.
4. Land and houses with property, at least at first glance seem relatively plentiful away from the lakefront/waterfront properties in the more resorter/vacation home focused areas. Building is going to be a challenge, as like you said, there is a limited supply of builders/trades/contractors and all would rather build large custom mega-cottages. Its hard to get a builder to do something for under $500K, since most builders are already super busy doing much larger/more expensive/more profitable jobs.
5. Administrative / clerical jobs always seem to be in demand in the region. However, like you probably already know being in Northern Michigan, most jobs are some combination of part-time and/or low pay. There is a labor shortage, amplified this year with all the COVID related stuff, but a lot of employers just can't/won't pay compared to what can be made in other regions. I always see help wanted stuff for things at schools, retirement homes, hotels, small business but usually stuff like 15-30 hours a week and for like $12-$15/hour. Good for supplementary / second income, challenging for a primary income.
In summer, you can go fishing and enjoy the summer wind. In autumn, you can watch the gradually red maple leaves, ski and ice fish here in winter, and there are more ancient legends and leftover Petowski stones to explore.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Petoskey
