Are there areas around the metro of young families, with kids? (Detroit: mortgages, big home)

[Geo-Aggie]

I understand this was a muted demographic here for a while and that globally millennials haven't had a ton of kids yet, but many of us are now in our early 30s, and we are starting to have them. In my almost year here in Metro Detroit, I feel like I've yet to stumble across where the young-professional families are buying or building homes.

Royal Oak has a TON of people who fit my demographic. Young, married, college educated - the major exception is kids. There are like 5 young couples with kids in Royal Oak. (Minor exaggeration, yes) People have told me Clawson and Berkley are demographically similar, but with more kids, but whenever I've been to Downtown Berkley or Clawson I feel 10-20 years younger than most people. I think Clawson and Berkley are where young families lived... back in 2000, and now their kids are in high school.

Beyond that most of my experience with neighborhoods in the metro has been in Detroit and Flint, which I can tell you definitely have a lot of young people with kids, but I don't know that either are really what I'm looking for from a education/income demographic and public schools perspective. So... from other people's perspectives, where are young families settling? Or did they really all move out of state? I'm certainly not saying I'm against staying long-term in Royal Oak or moving to an area of an older demographic like Rochester Hills, both areas I really like for different reasons, but I'm merely curious if there is an area with a higher density of younger families with young kids that we should check out over the next year before we decide where/if to stay permanently. (Of note, I do like Ann Arbor, but it's a bit too far from where I work.)

Maybe someone has a link to public school enrollment data I could poke around at? Or does anyone happen to know what nice-ish neighborhoods have elementary schools that are growing in population? Thanks!

[DTWflyer]

There are plenty of children in these areas, but many of these older inner-ring suburbs have a broader mix of ages and socio-economic classes than the newer, outer, and more sprawly areas.

Royal Oak does have kids but its highly dependent on the neighborhoods. The neighborhoods around the elementary schools like Northwood and Jane Adams have far more children. I believe Northwood elementary is at capacity and they are redistricting people to the other schools.

Areas that are very kid-heavy include, but not limited to:

Rochester Hills
Novi
Birmingham
Troy
Shelby Township
Chesterfield Twp
South Lyon
Clarkston

I hear stories from people at work that live in parts of Novi, Shelby, or Chesterfield that they get 200-300 kids on Halloween trick-or-treating. On my street in Royal Oak, the past 3 years we've gotten less than 15.

On my street in Royal Oak that is about ~50 houses, I only have ever seen maybe 2 babies in strollers, 3 elementary kids, and about 3 high school kids....ever. Its mostly retirees, 40-50 year singles, and a bunch of transient renters.

Based as much as much as I deplore the school ranking "surveys" they tell the areas where there are a lot of kids and highly desirable to raise children in sought-after school districts. It is what it is.

[Geo-Aggie]

Originally Posted by DTWflyer

There are plenty of children in these areas, but many of these older inner-ring suburbs have a broader mix of ages and socio-economic classes than the newer, outer, and more sprawly areas.

Royal Oak does have kids but its highly dependent on the neighborhoods. The neighborhoods around the elementary schools like Northwood and Jane Adams have far more children. I believe Northwood elementary is at capacity and they are redistricting people to the other schools.

Areas that are very kid-heavy include, but not limited to:

Rochester Hills
Novi
Birmingham
Troy
Shelby Township
Chesterfield Twp
South Lyon
Clarkston

I hear stories from people at work that live in parts of Novi, Shelby, or Chesterfield that they get 200-300 kids on Halloween trick-or-treating. On my street in Royal Oak, the past 3 years we've gotten less than 15.

On my street in Royal Oak that is about ~50 houses, I only have ever seen maybe 2 babies in strollers, 3 elementary kids, and about 3 high school kids....ever. Its mostly retirees, 40-50 year singles, and a bunch of transient renters.

Based as much as much as I deplore the school ranking "surveys" they tell the areas where there are a lot of kids and highly desirable to raise children in sought-after school districts. It is what it is.

Thank you, I hadn't considered that proximity to elementary schools may play a role in this. I'll have to take the kid for a walk some night around these areas and see if I agree with your assessment. Regarding Royal Oak, we must live near each other because this is about the same demographic I'm familiar with. I hadn't thought much about Shelby or Chesterfield. Both would be favorable from a commute standpoint and Utica District seems to have good schools. Are there any posters on here who know the areas well? What advantages/disadvantages would they have vs. Troy/Rochester Hills?

Birmingham is out of my price range and South Lyon and Clarkston are out of my preferred commute range.

[DTWflyer]

Anything comparable in Macomb County is generally cheaper than Oakland County.

Shelby Township, Macomb Township, and Chesterfield Township saw a huge influx of new construction in the mid 90s-2007 timeframe. Shelby is mostly built-out now on all but the northern fringe but there is new construction still in Macomb Twp and Chesterfield Twp. They were the sprawlvilles than range from more reasonably prices $200-300k new construction all the way up to McMansions. The schools up there are very good too.

There aren't any real drawbacks to being up there other than perception in some circles, that Macomb County tends to be a bit more provincial and insular than Oakland, a bit less pretentious too. Also, some would say most of those areas tend to be very generic suburban sprawl, chain/big-box store, and lacking a soul/sense of place. M-59/Hall Rd out there is the epitome of this mindset.

[DTWflyer]

I do think that Royal Oak schools are going to be on the upswing over the next several years in terms of enrollment.
The record amount of tear-down reconstructions all over town, and the new construction/in-fill by the High School and planned at Normandy Oaks is all aimed at families. These $450-500k new-builds with 4 bedrooms and 2200 sq ft are aimed at families and (young professional) millennials planning to have kids (and big mortgages/debt).
Far more affordable than comparable houses in Birmingham, and the upswing in more younger people working downtown is helping revive the Royal Oak bedroom community.

It will be interesting to see what happens with a lot of the more "tired" and dated properties as the retirees, seniors, and singles move on in the next 5-10 years and whether it leads to more rental/investment properties or tear-downs.

I've heard that most of the tired properties that are going for under $120k are being bought up by investors for flips or tear-downs. Been about 5 of these on my street this year alone.

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by DTWflyer

There are plenty of children in these areas, but many of these older inner-ring suburbs have a broader mix of ages and socio-economic classes than the newer, outer, and more sprawly areas.

Royal Oak does have kids but its highly dependent on the neighborhoods. The neighborhoods around the elementary schools like Northwood and Jane Adams have far more children. I believe Northwood elementary is at capacity and they are redistricting people to the other schools.

Areas that are very kid-heavy include, but not limited to:

Rochester Hills
Novi
Birmingham
Troy
Shelby Township
Chesterfield Twp
South Lyon
Clarkston

I hear stories from people at work that live in parts of Novi, Shelby, or Chesterfield that they get 200-300 kids on Halloween trick-or-treating. On my street in Royal Oak, the past 3 years we've gotten less than 15.

On my street in Royal Oak that is about ~50 houses, I only have ever seen maybe 2 babies in strollers, 3 elementary kids, and about 3 high school kids....ever. Its mostly retirees, 40-50 year singles, and a bunch of transient renters.

Based as much as much as I deplore the school ranking "surveys" they tell the areas where there are a lot of kids and highly desirable to raise children in sought-after school districts. It is what it is.

Yes. My brother lives in South Lyon (well, Lyon Twp.) and his neighborhood is CRAWLING with kids. It's a new sub where basically everyone is a 30-something or early 40-something couple with 2-3 kids.

Then I have a friend in Royal Oak, they have a baby, and yeah, there aren't many kids in their neighborhood. They will probably move further out.

One issue with Royal Oak and surroundings- it's pretty expensive for what you get (mostly bungalows and bigger homes are rare and expensive) and schools are only so-so. It's hard to justify the prices once you have kids, esp. when your friends are getting bigger, newer homes in better school districts.

One older, inner suburb that does have amenities like RO and has lots of kids- Birmingham. BUT you will need $$$. If you have no problem spending 600k+ on a family sized house (or squeezing into a cheaper bungalow), then Bham is an option. Schools are excellent and not many childless or permanent adolescent types. In fact many families in Bham have BIG families, kind of flaunting they can afford it. I know a doctor with six kids in Bloomfield Village (a section of Bham schools) and there's a family with five kids across the street, and another with four kids a few houses down.

If you NEED to stay in RO area and can't afford Bham, then maybe Berkeley is an option? Slightly better schools than RO. Seems to have more kids than RO but fewer than outlying suburbs.

[usroute10]

DTWFLYER offered some great suggestions. Here are more:

Macomb Township

Plymouth/Plymouth Township

Canton

Plymouth and Canton share a public school system, which is one of the best in the metro area


Others to consider:

West Bloomfield Township and adjacent Commerce Township (very, very diverse and not in a bad way - white, black, Jewish, Middle Eastern, a little Asian)

Huntington Woods (Berkley schools) - a Grosse Pointe Lite community in terms of feel and housing stock.

[clawsondude]

I am in my 30's, have two young children, and live in Clawson. There are several other families with young children in my neighborhood. As far as going out in downtown Clawson, I don't think you are seeing these people because they don't go out all that much. I have to really be motivated to work up will to bring two young kids to a restaurant.

[DTWflyer]

Yeah, you can't draw conclusions about Clawson, Berkley, or Royal Oak by what you see in the downtown commerical districts. None of these commerical/business districts are really suited or cater to families with children. Its bars, restaurants, and some small shops.

Like said above, parents with children are not going to be the ones you see out at the bars.

Plus a lot of people today with growing families do not want to live in ~1000 sq ft bungalows if they have the financial means to live somewhere else. People love their big homes, and why pay $250k for a 3/1.5 1200 sq ft bungalow on a 6000 sq ft lot in Royal Oak when you can buy much larger homes and property in many other places around Metro Detroit.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Northville also has a ton of young families.

I live in Novi and, I swear, more than half the parents I meet from my son's school all bought their first home in Royal Oak or Berkeley and then moved to Novi once they had kids.