Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Gibraltar is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades A− overall, 140th of 697 graded towns in Michigan, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $92K. It also does better than most on health: it is healthier than 76% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $227K, 3 years of the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income. 26% of the land in Gibraltar is conserved, against 4.4% in Michigan’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Only 42 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns score higher on the outdoors. The biggest park or preserve is Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, at 682 acres.
Where Gibraltar beats most towns.
26.3% of the town is conserved land, across 7 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Gibraltar is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Its founding year, 1811, comes before those of 98% of the Michigan towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 2,196 in 1960, 4,997 in 2020. The archive holds 9 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 8 maps from 1906 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gibraltar. Close and well known come first.
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaMichigan Stadium
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaFord Field
18 mi Stadium & arenaComerica Park
14 mi MuseumThe Henry Ford1.8M visitors a year
18 mi TheatreFox Theatre
36 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 Gibraltar, 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 Gibraltar.
Gibraltar pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the Michigan norm and has added a third more jobs in ten years.
8.2 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. Gibraltar’s trail density is 1.9 miles per square mile, where Michigan’s towns sit at 0.3 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Humbug Marsh | 1.4 mi | 334 |
| 2. Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge | — | 682 |
| 3. Gibraltar Wetlands | 0.2 mi | 349 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Gibraltar School District. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Oscar A Carlson High School, with 1,104 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shumate Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 839 | B− |
| Oscar A Carlson High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,104 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 84% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 459 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Gibraltar.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
30% of Gibraltar adults have obesity. Gibraltar beats the Michigan average on 13 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 9.6% of Gibraltar adults have diabetes.
| Gibraltar | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 37% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.6% | 12% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 25% | 25% |
| What stands out | Gibraltar | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.2% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.1% | 8.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based here grew from 494 in 2011 to 681.
Most working residents leave Gibraltar for work: only 3% work in town. 3.2% of residents live below the poverty line in Gibraltar. Since 2011, Gibraltar has added 187 jobs, to 681 in 2021.
| Gibraltar | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 3.2% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $92,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.4% | 5.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Gibraltar’s property crime rate is 3.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Gibraltar | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.1 per 1,000 residents | 8 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.1 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
People 65 and older are 27% of residents (19% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (22% statewide). The median age in Gibraltar is 50.3 years. Gibraltar has lost 4.2% of its people since 2020, down to 4,792 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Gibraltar | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 50.3 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 27% | 19% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 25% | 26% | 29% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.7 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Gibraltar | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.6% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.9% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.6% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 6.5% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.1% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 17% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 16.7% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.7% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.3% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 31.5% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 28.6% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.3% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.9% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.5% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,800, single groups can be off by several points
Gibraltar has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 20° and about 54 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Gibraltar grades A− overall with a typical home of about $227K, below the Michigan typical value; only 13 of the 103 Michigan towns graded A− or better can say that.
The typical Gibraltar home is worth about $227,000, up 0.8% in a year, 14% below the Michigan typical home.
| Gibraltar | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,276 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 82% | 84% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Gibraltar
About 5 of every 100 Gibraltar residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
Where Gibraltar’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
City in Michigan, United States
Gibraltar is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A Downriver suburb of Detroit, Gibraltar is located roughly 22 miles (35.4 km) southwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 4,997.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Gibraltar.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gibraltar | #140 | A− | B− | B+ | B+ | A− |
| Brownstown Township | #326 | B | C | B | B+ | B |
| Grosse Ile Township | #129 | A− | C− | — | A | A |
Grosse Ile Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Gibraltar with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Gibraltar grades A− overall, better than 82% of U.S. towns and #140 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 B−.
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