[chatrbug]

i grew up in lansing, but moved away 11 yrs ago. we now have the possibility of moving back in the very near future (as in a few months)-- we are looking at the dearborn area. we love small towns (our town has 1500 people right now) and really do not want to live in the big city. we would love a town under 5000 people but it also needs to have a really good school system. im hoping someone can help me out here. the maps im looking at just dont show the small towns that have potential..and i dont have a clue where to look for housing and such.

[mhogan10010]

You're not going to find anything that really fits the bill as close in as Dearborn. You might look out beyond Ann Arbor or above all the lakes North of the City. West of the City something like Belleville.
Just use the city data and click on towns between 1000 - 6000 residents, then pull out your atlas and map it out yourself.
Good luck

[mariatherese]

i agree 100%. i doubt that dearborn has the small town feel you are looking for. i wouldn't search SE michigan for it. i'd look further north. how far north would you be willing to go? do you want something by the water? somewhere near an artistic community? its hard to help unless i know more of what you are looking for.

but i grew up in the UP and have lived in northern lower michigan and SE michigan, so hope i can help.

[mich2fla]

Dearborn is not a small town!

You can look in areas between Lansing, AA, and Dearborn. If you will be working in downtown Detroit, the commute will be a killer.

Do you have a job lined up? Michigan's unemployment is over 7% right now. Be sure to have a job lined up before making the move!

[chatrbug]

right now we have a few choices in states...but dearborn was one of the spots to relocate. we would be relocating because of dhs job. ive been searching like crazy online but wasnt at all impressed with what i saw over there. dhs travel time has to be under an hr..so really cant go much further (i told him we should look into canada lol).

[Angel Bear]

Some of the suburban towns like Northville and Plymouth are nice because they have downtowns that have that small town feel, despite the fact they are not 'small' cities.

BTW, I love Dearborn. It has a cute downtown that is up and coming. I think the old houses are simply charming. You can get more house for your money there when compared to the other suburban cities in Metro Detroit (Livonia is really highly priced for instance).

[Rebecca in Tampa]

Don't live there anymore, however I lived there for 18 years, and I agree that Dearborn is NOT small town. Northville and Plymouth would be nice cities that are a drivable distance. I have also heard Westland has grown up. (it was getting rugid when I was there, but I have heard nice things about it lately, so maybe check that out)

[chatrbug]

okay back to this...as michigan is back into the running!

i heard plymouth schools werent good at all...we need good schools for our 4 children.

i will check out westland...

we would love a small town of 2000 those ones dont seem to be on the map though... i dont even know where to start searching for those small towns!

[chiroptera]

we would love a small town of 2000 those ones dont seem to be on the map though... i dont even know where to start searching for those small towns!

If you go to the citydata main page, you can search towns under 6000 and if memory serves me right, towns under 1000, for each state.