Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Dearborn Heights is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, ranked 594th of 697 in Michigan, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools outperform 67% of the state's. Expect to pay for it: homes are expensive, about $213K for a typical one and 2.8 times the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income. 22% of residents live below the poverty line in Dearborn Heights, above both the Michigan town median (8.9%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). Only 8 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns score lower on history. Hines Parkway, at 369 acres with 2.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Dearborn Heights beats most towns.
Where Dearborn Heights’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 Dearborn Heights is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,345 in 1930, 63,292 in 2020. The archive holds 7 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 8 maps from 1905 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Dearborn Heights. Close and well known come first.
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaMichigan Stadium
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaFord Field
4 mi MuseumThe Henry Ford1.8M visitors a year
12 mi Stadium & arenaComerica Park
12 mi TheatreFox Theatre
12 mi MuseumDetroit Institute of ArtsMichigan Stadium: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ford Field: Unknown, CC BY 2.5 · The Henry Ford: Alvintrusty, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Comerica Park: City of Detroit, Public domain · Fox Theatre: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Detroit Institute of Arts: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Dearborn Heights, 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 Dearborn Heights.
Dearborn Heights has homes that are cheap against local pay and has better schools than Dearborn or any other neighbor, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
7.1 miles of trail in 20 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hines Parkway | 2.4 mi | 369 |
| 2. Parkland Community Park | 1.4 mi | 81 |
| 3. Wallaceville Soccer Fields | 0.6 mi | 45 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its B+ is the best School Grade on its borders; Dearborn (B) is next.
Three of its 25 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 1,139 | B+ |
| Star International AcademyLargest public high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 1,728 | C |
| Dearborn STEM Middle SchoolTop results in townGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 166 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Dearborn Heights for work: only 6% work in town. The median household income in Dearborn Heights is $60,000. The top destinations are Detroit (14%), Dearborn (14%) and Livonia (6%).
| Dearborn Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $60,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 12% | 10% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Dearborn Heights beats the Michigan average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 16. 21% of adults report frequent mental distress in Dearborn Heights.
| Dearborn Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 18% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 34% | 36% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 14% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Dearborn Heights | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14.5% | 10.2% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 11.6% | 8.7% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 20.2% | 15.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 1,242 to 987 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Dearborn Heights’ violent crime rate is 3.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Dearborn Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.8 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 12.5 per 1,000 residents | 7.8 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
420 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 58 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 74% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 420 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Dearborn Heights.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Dearborn Heights has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 18° and about 31 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 2.8 years of the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income, the typical home (about $213K) costs less against local pay than in 78% of Michigan towns; that ratio is one input to its C for cost of living.
The typical Dearborn Heights home is worth about $213,000, up 2.3% in a year, 19% below the Michigan typical home. 71% of Dearborn Heights households own their home.
| Dearborn Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 71% | 84% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,331 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 53% | 45% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Michigan average. Dearborn Heights has lost 4.1% of its people since 2020, down to 60,664 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 24% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Michigan.
| Dearborn Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 35.8 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 25% | 21% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 16% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 24% | 26% | 29% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.4 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women. Median age: women 36.9, men 34.9.
| Dearborn Heights | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.9% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.3% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.6% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.4% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.9% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.2% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.2% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.6% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.5% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.4% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.2% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 14.6% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.2% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
14 within 15 miles of the center of Dearborn Heights
About 7 of every 100 Dearborn Heights residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
7 notable people were born in Dearborn Heights.
City in Michigan, United States
Dearborn Heights is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Dearborn Heights is located about 12 miles (19 km) west of downtown Detroit. The city shares a small border with Detroit, and is considered a bedroom community. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 63,292.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Dearborn Heights.
Taylor next door grades lower for schools (C− to Dearborn Heights’s B+) and higher for cost of living (B to C).
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dearborn Heights | #594 | C− | C | C | B+ | C |
| Dearborn | #601 | C− | C− | C | B | C |
| Detroit | #680 | D | B+ | D− | C− | D− |
| Allen Park | #382 | B− | B− | C+ | B− | B+ |
| Inkster | #689 | D− | B | D | C− | D− |
| Redford Township | #641 | D | C+ | D | C | C |
| Westland | #552 | C | B− | C− | B | C |
| Taylor | #660 | D | B | D | C− | C− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Dearborn Heights grades C− overall, better than 20% of U.S. towns and #594 of 697 in Michigan. It grades C for health, C 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.
7 notable people were born here, including Jordan Oesterle and Jason Bacashihua.
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