Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 11,312, founded in 1829.
Clawson grades A overall, ranked 69th of 697 in Michigan, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Residents are healthier than 88% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates and the median household earns $89K. It also does better than most on safety: it reports less crime per resident than 70% of U.S. towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: homes are expensive, about $283K for a typical one and 3.7 times the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income. On walkability, just 119 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns do better. The biggest park or preserve is Clawson City Park, at 34 acres.
Where Clawson beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Clawson | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.5% | 15.4% |
Where Clawson’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Clawson is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,377 in 1930, a peak of 17,617 in 1970, 11,389 in 2020. The archive holds 10 old photos and papers going back to 2017 and 7 maps from 1908 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Clawson. Close and well known come first.
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaMichigan Stadium
Big draw15 mi Stadium & arenaFord Field
15 mi Stadium & arenaComerica Park
17 mi MuseumThe Henry Ford1.8M visitors a year
15 mi TheatreFox Theatre
25 mi LakeLake Saint ClairMichigan Stadium: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ford Field: Unknown, CC BY 2.5 · Comerica Park: City of Detroit, Public domain · The Henry Ford: Alvintrusty, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fox Theatre: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lake Saint Clair: Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo
Who provides power, water and the rest in Clawson, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Clawson.
Clawson has less food insecurity than most of Michigan, sees little violent crime and has an unusually large share working from home.
Its widest gap with Michigan is food insecurity: 9.5% of its 9,693 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.4% statewide.
The share of adults in Clawson who smoke cigarettes is 12%, below both Michigan’s towns (15%) and U.S. towns (14%). Among adults here, 18% get no exercise outside work.
| Clawson | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 25% | 25% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.5% | 12% | 12% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 34% | 36% |
| What stands out | Clawson | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.5% | 15.4% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.6% | 10.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Of its 4 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason. The largest public high school is Clawson High School, with 369 students. Public schools: the Clawson Public Schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clawson Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 543 | B |
| Clawson High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 369 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
There are 1.2 miles of trail across 5 parks and preserves. The density of trails for Clawson comes to 0.6 miles per square mile, near both the Michigan town median (0.3) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4). Parks and preserves in the town: 5, covering 44 acres.
| Clawson | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.3% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Clawson City Park | 0.9 mi | 34 |
| 2. Grant Park | — | 5 |
| 3. Hunter Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Compared with 79% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in Clawson is lower. Federal aid has come to Clawson households in 4 declared disasters; the latest was in 2023. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 46% come from inland flooding and 27% from tornadoes. 3 flood insurance claims have been paid in the town since 2014.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
22.1% of workers work from home, against 13.5% across Michigan.
Commuting out is the norm in Clawson: 4% of working residents work locally. 22% of workers work from home here. Between 2011 and 2021, jobs in Clawson dropped by 436, to 3,481. The median commute is under 8 miles.
| Clawson | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 22% | 10% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 5.9% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $89,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Violent crime is rare: 14 reported in 2025, 1.2 per 1,000 residents.
In Clawson, the property offense rate is 5.9 per 1,000 residents. The town’s rate of reported violence comes in at 1.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Clawson | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.9 per 1,000 residents | 8 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.2 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The range runs from 18° on a January night to 84° on a July afternoon, with about 36 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Homes sold in Clawson spent a median 14 days on the market. A typical home here is worth about $283,000, up 1.1% in a year, 7% above the Michigan typical home. Also worth knowing: 44% of the homes sold in Clawson went for more than their asking price.
| Clawson | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 75% | 84% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,253 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
16 within 15 miles of the center of Clawson
About 6 of every 100 Clawson residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
5 notable people were born in Clawson.
City in Michigan, United States
Clawson is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Detroit, Clawson is located about 19 miles (31 km) north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 11,389.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Clawson.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Clawson grades A overall, better than 90% of U.S. towns and #69 of 697 in Michigan. It grades A for health, B+ for safety and B+ for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
5 notable people were born here, including David Robert Mitchell and Tim Gleason.
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