Metro Life Score

Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI

Compiled byPlainCompare Editorial, PlainCompare Editorial Team · Updated May 16, 2026

46.4
Life Score / 100: C+
Grade (curved): #250
of 387 metros: 35%
of metros outranked

Data updated May 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census

The verdict

Detroit ranks #250 of 387 US metros, ahead of 35% - carried by its childcare (82/100) and held back most by safety (20/100).

82
strongest: Childcare: 77
then: Wages: 20
weakest: Safety: 7
weighted dimensions

Where Detroit sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

46 35th percentile higher than 35% of 387 US metros

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · May 2026

How the score is built

Reading the Detroit Life Score

Detroit's composite score of 46.4 out of 100, a grade of C+, places the metro at rank #250 of 387, ahead of 35% of US metros. The strongest inputs are Childcare (82/100) and Wages (77/100), which pull the composite upward, while Safety (20/100) and Cost of Living (21/100) drag it downward. (How the weighting works.)

BEA RPP 100.3 (rent-RPP 94.7). BLS median salary $71,303, 1,883,860 jobs (Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators, Retail Salespersons, Home Health and Personal Care Aides). HUD 2BR FMR $1,411/mo (studio $1,009).

FBI UCR (MI): 431 violent, 1395 property/100K. NCES: 17.5:1 ratio, 10.9% charter. DOL infant childcare $7,444/yr. EPA: 90 Superfund sites (MI). Ranks #247-#253 below.

Dimension detail

How Detroit scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 21/100 (20%)

Wages 77/100 (20%)

Rent 37/100 (15%)

Safety 20/100 (15%)

Schools 75/100 (10%)

Childcare 82/100 (10%)

Environment 24/100 (10%)

Key Data Points

100.3

Cost Index (RPP)

$71,303

Avg Median Salary

$1,411

2BR Fair Market Rent

431

Violent Crime/100K (MI)

17.5:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$7,444

Infant Childcare/yr (MI)

Superfund Sites (MI)

1,883,860

Total Employment

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level where metro-specific data is unavailable.

Compare Detroit With...

Detroit vs Midland Compare → Detroit vs Saginaw Compare → Detroit vs Niles Compare → Detroit vs Wildwood Compare → Detroit vs Waterloo Compare → Detroit vs Paducah Compare →

Ranking Context

Detroit outranks 35% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#247	Jefferson City, MO	46.5	C+
#248	Gainesville, FL	46.5	C+
#249	Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC	46.6	C+
#250	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	46.4	C+
#251	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	46.4	C+
#252	Salisbury, MD	46.1	C+
#253	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	46.1	C+

MI Metro Scores

Midland, MI A 62.6 Saginaw, MI A- 59.9 Niles, MI B+ 56.5 Jackson, MI B+ 56.2 Flint, MI B+ 56.1 Kalamazoo-Portage, MI B+ 55.6

Using Detroit's Life Score

Detroit is a regional baseline, not a neighborhood reading, use it to shortlist, then dig into the dimensions that matter to you.

Its strongest dimension is childcare (82/100) and its weakest is safety (20/100) - weigh those against your own priorities. How the score is built
Put Detroit head-to-head against another metro before you decide, every dimension, side by side. Compare metros
See where Detroit lands on the national rankings for cost, safety, pay and more. Browse rankings

Scores summarize federal data at the metro level; crime, schools and cost vary widely within a single metro.

Explore more

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Detroit's biggest strengths? ▼

Detroit's strongest dimensions are Childcare (82/100), Wages (77/100), Schools (75/100). Childcare is top-tier nationally.

What are Detroit's weakest areas? ▼

Detroit's lowest-scoring dimensions are Safety (20/100), Cost of Living (21/100), Environment (24/100). Safety weighs heavily on the composite.

How expensive is Detroit compared to the national average? ▼

Detroit's Regional Price Parity is 100.3 (0.3% more than national); rent RPP 94.7.

What is the average salary in Detroit? ▼

Detroit median salary: $71,303, 1,883,860 jobs. Top: Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators, Retail Salespersons, Home Health and Personal Care Aides.

How is the life score calculated? ▼

Detroit's 46.4/100 blends 7 federal-data dimensions - see our methodology page for the weighting.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr

Every figure on PlainCompare is loaded directly from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OEWS, NCES, DOL, EPA, and the Census Bureau, no number is typed in by an editor. This metro's Life Score is computed directly from the 7 federal sources cited above. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.