Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Garden City is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, 508th among Michigan's 697 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: homes are within reach, about $201K for a typical one, or 2.6 years of the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its schools rank behind 67% of the state's. Only 39 of Michigan’s 1,265 towns score lower on civic life. 15% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Garden City, below both the Michigan town median (26%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). The biggest place to walk is Blaze Farhat Memorial Park, 55 acres with 1.9 miles of trail.
Where Garden City beats most towns.
Where Garden City’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 Garden City is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,081 in 1930, a peak of 41,864 in 1970, 27,380 in 2020. The archive holds 7 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 8 maps from 1905 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Garden City. Close and well known come first.
Big draw21 mi Stadium & arenaMichigan Stadium
Big draw15 mi Stadium & arenaFord Field
6 mi MuseumThe Henry Ford1.8M visitors a year
15 mi Stadium & arenaComerica Park
15 mi TheatreFox Theatre
14 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 Garden City, 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 Garden City.
Garden City has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
| Garden City | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2.6% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Blaze Farhat Memorial Park | 1.9 mi | 55 |
| 2. Rotary Park | 0.3 mi | 7 |
| 3. Moeller Park | — | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Garden City Public Schools. Two of its 9 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farmington 56 CampusLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–6 | Grades 5–6 | 455 | C− |
| Garden City High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 896 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 83% of U.S. communities. Since 1999, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Garden City.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jobs based here fell from 5,562 in 2011 to 3,849.
Most working residents leave Garden City for work: only 5% work in town. Since 2011, Garden City has lost 1,713 jobs, to 3,849 in 2021. The average trip to work in Garden City is 27 minutes.
| Garden City | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $67,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.8% | 5.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
At 2.6 years of the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income, the typical home (about $201K) costs less against local pay than in 83% of Michigan towns; that ratio is one input to its B− for cost of living.
The typical Garden City home is worth about $201,000, up 1.9% in a year, 24% below the Michigan typical home.
| Garden City | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 79% | 84% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,150 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Garden City has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant 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
Garden City beats the Michigan average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 20% of adults report frequent mental distress in Garden City.
| Garden City | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 34% | 36% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 27% | 23% |
| What stands out | Garden City | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 17% | 14.6% |
| More adults in frequent mental distress | 20.3% | 17.6% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 75.1% | 77.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Garden City’s violent crime rate is 3.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Garden City | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.4 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 7.3 per 1,000 residents | 8 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
14 within 15 miles of the center of Garden City
About 5 of every 100 Garden City residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
9 notable people were born in Garden City.
City in Michigan, United States
Garden City is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Garden City is located roughly 15 miles (24 km) west of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 27,380. Garden City is notable as the home of the first locations of Kmart and Little Caesars.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Garden City.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garden City | #508 | C+ | B− | B− | C | C+ |
| Westland | #552 | C | B− | C− | B | C |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Garden City grades C+ overall, better than 36% of U.S. towns and #508 of 697 in Michigan. It grades C+ for health, B− for safety and C 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 B−.
9 notable people were born here, including John C. Maxwell and Tom Davey.
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