Good/bad neighborhoods & suburbs? (Detroit, Warren: apartment complexes, rental, crime rates)

[Cleverfield]

I'm from Cleveland, a city that I believe has a lot in common with Detroit, but I don't know very much about your city and its neighborhoods and suburbs. Being a rust-belt city buff, I'm curious-- what are the decent neighborhoods and suburbs? What are the crime infested neighborhoods and suburbs? What neighborhoods are mostly empty? What neighborhoods are still hanging on? Are there any upper class or middle areas of Detroit proper? Are there any hip, up and coming neighborhoods? A map with some of these areas marked would be awesome.

[lpranger467]

Most cities in Oakland County (north of 12 mile road) are pretty nice, cities like Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills & Troy are upscale. "inner ring suburbs", or suburbs that touch Detroit like Warren, Oak Park, hazel Park have their struggles but none are crime ridden.

South of Detroit Dearborn is nice, but nearby Inkster is crime infested. Downriver communities like Taylor/Lincoln Park are blue collar and don't have a whole lot of upscale areas..

The cities along I275 (freeway) like Plymouth & Northville are nice and each have their own downtowns. Towns like Livonia & Canton are big suburbs with reasonable house prices but no established downtowns.

[animatedmartian]

Inkster, Pontiac, and Highland Park tend to be the higher crime suburbs. Though these suburbs are just about as old as Detroit itself and similarly rose during the industrial boom and fell when the factories closed.


Most other suburbs are either new growth suburbs (with peak grow rates usually in the 90s or later) or mature suburbs (with peak growth rates from 1960-1980). The mature suburbs are typically pretty average with some crime, but no major issues. Usually populated with older families/senior citizens. The newer suburbs are typically affluent with young families, educated immigrants, etc.

[MS313]

With Detroit's size it's very hard to pinpoint every part of it. But I will try to name the ones that stand out.

With the suburbs it's pretty simple. Inkster, Pontiac, Ecorse, River Rouge, Harper Woods, and Eastpointe are the only suburbs with above average crime rates. The other suburbs have crime rates of average to low. Most of Metro Detroit is pretty safe.

In the city it's more complicated. Neighborhoods go from ok to bad all over. The city has pockets of dangerous and safe areas and they often times can be near each other.

There are alot more decent areas (for Detroit standards) than outsiders might think. Downtown, Midtown, New Center, Corktown, Hamtramck, Rosedale Park, North Rosedale Park, Palmer Woods, University District, Sherwood Forest, Green Acres, Elmwood Park, Lafayette Park, Rivertown, Indian Village, Joseph Berry, Marina District, East English Village, Morningside, Boston- Edison and quite a few parts of southwest Detroit like Mexicantown and Springwells are all decent neighborhoods. Most of the ones I mentioned are middle class neighborhoods and pretty nice.

There are alot of decent working class areas as well. I would say the largest concentration of them are on the westside west of Livernois however there are crime hotspots scattered about over there as well.

The parts of Detroit that are mostly empty are Brightmoor, Delray, the area east of Eastern Market, the area west of Motor City Casino, the area between conner and alter rd, some of the neighborhoods by city airport, and the area between the Chrysler freeway and woodward on the north end of the city.

This is sort of a blight map to show you where the worst off areas are. The darkest green are the areas that are mostly vacant (50%+).


BTW, I've never been to Cleveland but I hear it is a very underrated city that has alot to offer and making a huge comeback. I'll be interested in making a weekend visit one day. I'm hoping for a comeback of the entire rustbelt.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

On the "east side" (suburbs to the north of Detroit) the affluent live in Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Rochester and Grosse Pointe (a bit of an outlier as it borders the city directly to the east along Lake St. Clair).

On the "west side" (suburbs to the west of Detroit) the affluent live in Northville, Novi and Plymouth.

[mgkeith]

Just want to add that there are many "decent" suburbs in Metro Detroit. Depends on what you are looking for.
As for up-and- coming, many hipster sounding shops are moving into downtown Farmington. I just learned about kombucha tea from one of my kids yesterday. A veggie restaurant is coming soon, as well as a Fresh Thyme market. Oh, LOL and then we have a very pretty Dress Barn store, which is really a great store except for the name! Besides that, many interesting new ventures starting here.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

On the "east side" (suburbs to the north of Detroit) the affluent live in Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Rochester and Grosse Pointe (a bit of an outlier as it borders the city directly to the east along Lake St. Clair).

No Macomb Township?
No Commerce Township, Orchard Lake, Oakland Township, West Bloomfield, Troy?

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

On the "west side" (suburbs to the west of Detroit) the affluent live in Northville, Novi and Plymouth.

No Canton?
No Grosse Isle (island in the Detroit River)?

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by usroute10

No Macomb Township?
No Commerce Township, Orchard Lake, Oakland Township, West Bloomfield?




No Canton?
No Grosse Isle (island in the Detroit River)?

Orchard Lake and Oakland Township -- probably.

West Bloomfield -- Not on a tier with the extremely affluent suburbs.

Grosse Ile - Good point. It's a bit of an outlier given its unique location to the south. Definitely fits into the extremely affluent category.

Canton -- not so much.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by MS313

With Detroit's size it's very hard to pinpoint every part of it. But I will try to name the ones that stand out.

With the suburbs it's pretty simple. Inkster, Pontiac, Ecorse, River Rouge, Harper Woods, and Eastpointe are the only suburbs with above average crime rates. The other suburbs have crime rates of average to low. Most of Metro Detroit is pretty safe.

In the city it's more complicated. Neighborhoods go from ok to bad all over. The city has pockets of dangerous and safe areas and they often times can be near each other.

There are alot more decent areas (for Detroit standards) than outsiders might think. Downtown, Midtown, New Center, Corktown, Hamtramck, Rosedale Park, North Rosedale Park, Palmer Woods, University District, Sherwood Forest, Green Acres, Elmwood Park, Lafayette Park, Rivertown, Indian Village, Joseph Berry, Marina District, East English Village, Morningside, Boston- Edison and quite a few parts of southwest Detroit like Mexicantown and Springwells are all decent neighborhoods. Most of the ones I mentioned are middle class neighborhoods and pretty nice.

There are alot of decent working class areas as well. I would say the largest concentration of them are on the westside west of Livernois however there are crime hotspots scattered about over there as well.

The parts of Detroit that are mostly empty are Brightmoor, Delray, the area east of Eastern Market, the area west of Motor City Casino, the area between conner and alter rd, some of the neighborhoods by city airport, and the area between the Chrysler freeway and woodward on the north end of the city.

This is sort of a blight map to show you where the worst off areas are. The darkest green are the areas that are mostly vacant (50%+).


BTW, I've never been to Cleveland but I hear it is a very underrated city that has alot to offer and making a huge comeback. I'll be interested in making a weekend visit one day. I'm hoping for a comeback of the entire rustbelt.

Other up-and-coming areas are Eastern Market and West Village and the Palmer Park Apartments District. Some darkhorses that may catch fire in the near future are Old Redford and Jefferson-Chalmers

I second Hamtramck. Although although somewhat blighted and haggard looking with bland housing stock, it has a significant bar and restaurant and art scene, and has alot of ethnic diversity.

The urban suburbs with vibrant downtowns are Ferndale and Royal Oak. Pontiac is an urban suburb but is run-down and the downtown is not that vibrant. Birmingham is an well-to-do community with a large downtown. Other suburbs with nice downtowns are Berkley, Plymouth, Wyandotte, Northville, Rochester, Dearborn, and Grosse Pointe (Dearborn and Grosse Pointe have multiple commercial districts)

Below is a map of Detroit neighborhoods

[slowdawg]

Its much easier to focus on the "bad" areas since most of the cities/townships are pretty safe and stable.
Obviously highland Park is bad, but that barely counts as it is a small area completely surrounded by a rough area of Detroit.I consider Highland Park and Hamtramck to be almost like self-governed neighborhoods as opposed to suburbs. Hamtramck is better, but it still has some blighted blocks and the neighborhood directly north is pretty bad, so its can be affected by that.
Pontiac has always been rough. Some outer areas are kind of country-ish, but toward the center of town and the south side are full of crime and vacant lots. Royal Oak Township is a very small, poor community where most houses have bars on the doors.
Mount Clemens has low-income areas that are pretty run-down, mostly east of Gratiot. The south side of Warren has a lot of shabby rental houses and a lot of drug-addicts. North of 10 Mile, though, is your basic suburbia.
Ecorse and River Rouge are tiny cities with a lot of lower-income rental properties. Of course, theres Inkster, too.
Ypsilanti is bad, if you consider that part of the Detroit area.
Typically, whats more common are problematic apartment complexes in otherwise decent areas. For example, Canton is a generally-safe, family-friendly community. However, there are some apartment complexes and mobile home parks that have had a troublesome history, with a lot of police runs.