The 10 Worst Detroit Suburbs

The 10 Worst Detroit Suburbs To Live For 2025

We’ll get the ball rolling with River Rouge, the absolute worst place to live around Detroit according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, River Rouge beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 2nd worst in the Detroit area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 2nd worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s River Rouge.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

Welcome to Pontiac. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 20.7 miles to Detroit. Income levels here are the 6th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $42,791 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Detroit suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Highland Park on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Detroit suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Inkster, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 3rd lowest Detroit suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 3rd worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Detroit. Remember, we looked at 75 cities for this study.

Inkster is about 12.7 miles to downtown.

Ecorse has the distinction of being a Detroit suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Ecorse has the lowest home values in the metro Detroit area, where the median price is $81,132. The median income is $200,318.

Ecorse has an unemployment rate of 7.82% which ranks 13th worst.

Melvindale has 12,605 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 34.391114637048794%.

Ah, Wayne. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Detroit.

It’s the place with the 9th most out of work residents in the Detroit metro area (9.62%).

Hamtramck is a city about 2.5 miles from Detroit, but Detroit probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Hamtramck has the 4th most uninsured people, 4th worst incomes, and has the 4th highest unemployment rate (11.72%) in the entire Detroit metro area.

Homes only cost $172,127 for a reason. That’s cheap for Detroit standards.

If you absolutely have to live near Detroit, then Taylor might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Detroit suburb.

About 6.97% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Detroit suburbs to call home is Lincoln Park.

Located 10.5 miles outside the city, Lincoln Parks is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 14th highest unemployment rate (7.54%), and poverty is far above the area average.