Are you sick of being a city slicker?
Do you long for life in suburban Michigan? Where you can drive an overly-large vehicle to the store for groceries and schlep the kids around to practices and appointments without worrying about a parking space.
We do, too.
If you wanted to move out to the suburbs in Michigan, where would you go? And how would you decide on the ranking factors to help you pick which Michigan suburb was best?
No worries. We got it all figured out here using Saturday Night Science.
$190,150 median income · $537,208 median home price
Located in
Oakland County, Michigan
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$116,239 median income · $314,815 median home price
Located in
Oakland County, Michigan
Berkley is a suburb of Detroit located along the Woodward Corridor in southeastern Oakland County, Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the total population was 14,970.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$177,412 median income · $587,951 median home price
Located in
Oakland County, Michigan
Beverly Hills is a village in Southfield Township, Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a suburb of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,267 making it by far the most populous village in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$153,510 median income · $733,351 median home price
Located in
Oakland County, Michigan
Birmingham is a city on the north side of Metro Detroit in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,103.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$161,208 median income · $513,933 median home price
Located in
Wayne County, Michigan
Grosse Pointe Farms is a suburban town bordering Detroit located in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,479 at the 2010 census. It is bordered by Canada and Lake Saint Clair on the south and east, Grosse Pointe on the west, Detroit on the north, and Grosse Pointe Woods and Grosse Pointe Shores on the northeast. Lakeshore Drive begins in Grosse Pointe Farms, where, just east of Fisher Road, the eastbound driver or pedestrian on Jefferson Avenue descends to lake level, following the curvature of the lakefront to the northeast.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$112,145 median income · $471,425 median home price
Located in
Wayne County, Michigan
Plymouth is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,132 at the 2010 census. The City of Plymouth is entirely surrounded by the Charter Township of Plymouth.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$145,530 median income · $588,077 median home price
Located in
Wayne County, Michigan
Northville is a city located in and divided by Oakland and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. The area is a suburb of Metropolitan Detroit. The population was 5,970 at the 2010 census. Most of the city is in Oakland County and is surrounded by the city of Novi, while the other part is in Wayne County is surrounded by Northville Township. Northville is served by Northville Public Schools. The city is located 21 miles northeast of Ann Arbor and 29 miles northwest of Detroit.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$111,750 median income · $486,537 median home price
Located in
Oakland County, Michigan
Rochester is a city on the north side of the Detroit Metropolitan Area, in Oakland County, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 12,711 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$158,853 median income · $469,116 median home price
Grosse Pointe is a waterfront city adjacent to Detroit in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The municipality covers just over one square mile and had a population of 5,421 at the 2010 census. It is bordered on the west by Grosse Pointe Park, on the north by Detroit, on the east by Grosse Pointe Farms, and on the south by Lake Saint Clair. Grosse Pointe is about eight miles east of downtown Detroit, accessible by Jefferson Avenue or several other cross streets. Grosse Pointe is one of five similarly named municipalities in northeastern Wayne County, and is often called “The City” or Grosse Pointe City.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$124,111 median income · $502,195 median home price
Located in
Wayne County, Michigan
Grosse Pointe Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 11,555 at the 2010 census. Bordering on Detroit with frontage on southern Lake Saint Clair, it is the westernmost of the noted Grosse Pointe suburbs, with the oldest overall housing stock of the five cities. Grosse Pointe Park is 6 miles east of downtown Detroit and thus is home to many who commute to the city on a daily basis. The area is often referred to simply as ‘GPP’ or “The Park”. Many locals call the area from Alter Road to Nottingham in between Jefferson Avenue and Mack Avenue the Cabbage Patch, due to how the duplex style houses are closer together than the rest of the city.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Michigan’s statewide median.
Michigan statewide median: $72,875
Michigan statewide median: $259,857
On the map
Where Michigan’s best suburbs are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we crunched the suburb numbers for the Wolverine State
We have to use Saturday Night Science and look at several metrics to give you the best suburbs in Michigan. We want to measure the type of place around major cities that people arguing at a bar would say makes it the “best suburb.”
First, we had to define a suburb. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of Michigan, we looked at every town with at least 5,000 residents, and within 30 miles of a city that’s over 200,000 people.
In other words, suburbs.
We paid particular attention to the following criteria:
- Median Home Values
- Median Income
- Population Density (Higher is Better)
- Unemployment Rates
- Commute Time
- Education Levels
- Health Insurance Coverage
- Poverty Rates
We ranked each suburb in Michigan across these criteria from one to 68, with one being the best.
We then took the average rank across all criteria, with the town posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title “Best Suburb To Live In Michigan.”
The result is some of the safest, quietest, and ideal places to live in Michigan.
Read on to see why Huntington Woods is the ‘burb with the most, while River Rouge is probably not the best place to live in Michigan.
The full plate
The Best Suburbs In Michigan
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Median Income | Median Home Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods | 6,328 | $190,150 | $537,208 |
| 2 | Berkley | 15,149 | $116,239 | $314,815 |
| 3 | Beverly Hills | 10,524 | $177,412 | $587,951 |
| 4 | Birmingham | 21,763 | $153,510 | $733,351 |
| 5 | Grosse Pointe Farms | 9,904 | $161,208 | $513,933 |
| 6 | Plymouth | 9,214 | $112,145 | $471,425 |
| 7 | Northville | 6,069 | $145,530 | $588,077 |
| 8 | Rochester | 12,934 | $111,750 | $486,537 |
| 9 | Grosse Pointe | 5,541 | $158,853 | $469,116 |
| 10 | Grosse Pointe Park | 11,319 | $124,111 | $502,195 |
| 11 | Royal Oak | 57,950 | $101,109 | $331,359 |
| 12 | Farmington | 11,504 | $97,750 | $327,491 |
| 13 | Grosse Pointe Woods | 16,094 | $126,395 | $349,101 |
| 14 | Clawson | 11,374 | $88,636 | $286,026 |
| 15 | South Lyon | 11,950 | $92,467 | $467,292 |
| 16 | Rochester Hills | 77,089 | $120,694 | $465,253 |
| 17 | Milford | 6,487 | $105,713 | $481,467 |
| 18 | Trenton | 18,125 | $82,212 | $239,684 |
| 19 | Troy | 87,898 | $120,045 | $457,480 |
| 20 | New Baltimore | 12,072 | $106,033 | $354,733 |
| 21 | Novi | 66,717 | $110,723 | $467,223 |
| 22 | Ferndale | 19,190 | $94,640 | $250,328 |
| 23 | Walled Lake | 7,299 | $72,055 | $242,300 |
| 24 | Livonia | 93,851 | $98,460 | $309,576 |
| 25 | Farmington Hills | 83,515 | $104,836 | $387,308 |
| 26 | Riverview | 12,186 | $73,468 | $242,241 |
| 27 | Allen Park | 27,925 | $81,655 | $206,256 |
| 28 | St. Clair Shores | 58,140 | $73,500 | $227,950 |
| 29 | Wyandotte | 24,489 | $71,987 | $186,227 |
| 30 | Milan | 5,987 | $96,949 | $303,662 |
| 31 | Dundee | 5,744 | $78,837 | $286,249 |
| 32 | Wixom | 17,295 | $65,485 | $384,492 |
| 33 | Oak Park | 29,318 | $71,510 | $232,982 |
| 34 | Utica | 5,180 | $58,718 | $253,468 |
| 35 | Tecumseh | 8,646 | $62,835 | $254,886 |
| 35 | Fraser | 14,583 | $64,354 | $234,792 |
| 37 | Sterling Heights | 133,573 | $79,909 | $306,785 |
| 38 | Southgate | 29,366 | $66,118 | $192,161 |
| 39 | Southfield | 76,236 | $68,166 | $250,952 |
| 40 | Woodhaven | 12,690 | $78,648 | $266,356 |
| 41 | Madison Heights | 28,419 | $69,503 | $219,511 |
| 42 | Flat Rock | 10,340 | $81,585 | $257,473 |
| 43 | Center Line | 8,463 | $54,703 | $166,336 |
| 44 | Auburn Hills | 25,105 | $84,375 | $277,483 |
| 45 | Hazel Park | 14,963 | $67,073 | $155,502 |
| 46 | Dearborn | 107,423 | $65,324 | $245,068 |
| 47 | Monroe | 20,320 | $59,813 | $214,283 |
| 48 | Dearborn Heights | 61,771 | $60,391 | $212,389 |
| 49 | Ypsilanti | 19,857 | $46,588 | $282,887 |
| 50 | Westland | 83,633 | $62,076 | $211,889 |
| 51 | New Haven | 6,475 | $66,125 | $308,844 |
| 52 | Roseville | 47,123 | $62,182 | $168,929 |
| 53 | Adrian | 20,395 | $50,209 | $185,079 |
| 54 | Taylor | 62,081 | $61,081 | $175,806 |
| 55 | Warren | 137,928 | $64,016 | $196,785 |
| 56 | Romulus | 24,831 | $69,151 | $203,010 |
| 57 | Harper Woods | 15,116 | $65,022 | $153,570 |
| 58 | Melvindale | 12,554 | $42,185 | $139,402 |
| 59 | Lincoln Park | 39,257 | $58,616 | $150,869 |
| 60 | Eastpointe | 33,982 | $62,325 | $150,775 |
| 61 | Mount Clemens | 15,511 | $52,310 | $175,694 |
| 62 | Hamtramck | 27,743 | $39,293 | $164,411 |
| 63 | Pontiac | 62,104 | $44,329 | $137,921 |
| 64 | Wayne | 17,310 | $59,038 | $172,173 |
| 65 | Ecorse | 9,064 | $40,241 | $81,039 |
| 66 | Highland Park | 8,628 | $29,309 | $88,863 |
| 67 | Inkster | 25,428 | $39,252 | $108,131 |
| 68 | River Rouge | 7,008 | $41,053 | $85,479 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS via Saturday Night Science. 68 Michigan suburbs within 30 miles of a city over 200,000.
Summary
Summary: There You Have It – The Best Suburbs In Michigan
If you’re measuring the locations in Michigan where there are lots to do, and everyone wants to live, this is an accurate list.
The best suburbs in Michigan are Huntington Woods, Berkley, Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Grosse Pointe Farms, Plymouth, Northville, Rochester, Grosse Pointe, and Grosse Pointe Park.
