Advice on areas to live (working in Dearborn)? (Detroit, Ann Arbor: apartments, for rent)

[rob9292]

I will be moving to the Detroit area in September and will be working for Ford. I am 26 (male), single, and looking for an area with decent restaurants/bars/shops/nightlife. Cost of living is not a huge factor, although I would rather not pay more than $1400 for rent.

I have done some research and from what I have read, it seems like Royal Oak is a popular choice among young professionals and has a good downtown area. My only concern is the commute to Dearborn. I know it is about 20 miles from Royal Oak to Dearborn, but how bad is traffic heading that way in the morning?

It seems like Downtown and Midtown would also be good options. However, I am still very hesitant due to the higher crime rates and some negative opinions I have read on the areas. I know metro Detroit has been trying to revamp its image but I still get the feeling that downtown can be somewhat of a "ghost town", crime is still a big issue, and that it is very hard to find decent grocery stores in the area. I do like the fact that there are lofts/apartments very close to Comerica Park and Ford Field (I am big sports fan).

Dearborn seems like an obvious choice because it provides the shortest drive to work. But from people I have talked to it seems like crime (atleast on the East side) is still an issue and that there isn't a whole lot going on there (as far as nightlife goes).

Ann Arbor is another option as I love college towns. However, I am a bit put off by the long commute and the high living expenses there.

Ypsilanti was also suggested as it is right outside of Ann Arbor and a little closer to Dearborn. I was told you can find some pretty decent places on the lake to rent.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[animatedmartian]

Well, you named your best options. You'll have to compromise somewhere or choose a more suburban neighborhood to live in that's safe and has a decent commute. Though that probably doesn't sound as a bad as it seems. You'll save in the cost of housing and most everything is auto-oriented anyway so it's not like living away from the restaurants will make them inaccessible. And of course, depending on how long you live here, you can always move into another area when you get more comfortable and familiar with a particular neighborhood.

Oh yea, in terms of traffic, Southfield freeway is better than 75 and 94. The interstates get really slow around rush hour.

[PosterExtraordinaire]

Originally Posted by rob9292

Ypsilanti was also suggested as it is right outside of Ann Arbor and a little closer to Dearborn. I was told you can find some pretty decent places on the lake to rent.

if you live in ypsi, you can always take the bus to a2 and enjoy the singles scene without the high price of living. Your commute will be about 30 mins as opposed to about 20 mins from royal oak to dearborn. Ann Arbor has a much more interesting nightlife scene than royal oak BUT while in royal oak you can bike to ferndale, do a short drive to pontiac or downtown detroit, or even windsor. In the end you get more bang for your buck.

dearborn's has a nightlife scene too but i'm actually not very familiar with. it's smaller than the areas above but you could still drive to dt detroit/ro every friday/saturday night or whatever. I think in the end you're going to be driving to work 5 times a week but to go out and party maybe only 2 times so living close to work is your only priority.

east dearborn to sw detroit along michigan has a lot of good bars and strip joints. but you probably want something else.

as far as crime goes, these questions annoy me so

[PosterExtraordinaire]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Oh yea, in terms of traffic, Southfield freeway is better than 75 and 94. The interstates get really slow around rush hour.

they do a lot of construction on the 94 past romulus so traffic is unpredictable between a2 and dearborn.

[Coldjensens]

You are right on the money. There are plusses and minuses anywhere. The perfect place does not exist.

You left out Wyandotte.

A decent balance of safety, nightlife, short commute, and affordibility. Not the best optio for any of those things, but a decent option for all of them. May be worth checking out.

[jonnynonos]

I would do Royal Oak. For all intents and purposes the relative urban vitality of Detroit all dispersed along the Woodward corridor over the last 50 years. That's not to suggest that it is like a big city, but it is IMO the closest approximation.

If you're hesitating on Detroit, it is probably not for you. It is what it is. You have to really want to live in a relatively gritty urban environment. Trade off is excitement of living in a (quasi; ocassionally surreal) big city and being part of something potentially meaningful. I'm sure living downtown would be more interesting in many ways but it is indeed a fairly dramatic trade off.

[rob9292]

Thank you for all your responses, they have been very helpful. I will definitely look into Wyandotte as well.

[DTWflyer]

I'm just a few years older than you and based on your interests, at first I'm just go with Royal Oak area when first moving to the area. It is probably the safest bet until you figure out the area and decide if you might want to move out to Ann Arbor. Rent a place for a year and see what other areas strike your interest.

For $1400 you can probably find a smaller bungalow type house to rent in the Royal Oak area.

There are many other nice parts of the area, but not sure if they have what a 26 year old single male is looking for at this point in their life.

I make the drive daily from Birmingham to Dearborn. Southfield Fwy traffic isn't that bad. Plus auto industry hours, typically most of the Ford people come into work early and leave early compared to other industries.

Like others have said, unless you really know you want to live downtown, its probably not for you. While the downtown and midtown areas are becoming more popular, you really still have to want to live in some sort of urban frontier environment. Downtown living is really for the most part people who work downtown and/or the hipster, grad student, and more liberal crowd.