Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Madison Heights is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B overall, ranked 303rd of 697 in Michigan, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $70K. It also does better than most on health: it is healthier than 70% of U.S. towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in safety: its police reported 84 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 68% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $216K, 2.8 years of the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income. Madison Heights’ trail density is 1.3 miles per square mile, above both the Michigan town median (0.3) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4). Only 96 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns score higher on walkability. Civic Center Park, at 38 acres with 1.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Madison Heights beats most towns.
Where Madison 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 Madison Heights is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 33,343 in 1960, a peak of 38,599 in 1970, 28,468 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2006 and 8 maps from 1905 on.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Madison Heights. Close and well known come first.
Big draw37 mi Stadium & arenaMichigan Stadium
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaFord Field
12 mi Stadium & arenaComerica Park
12 mi TheatreFox Theatre
16 mi MuseumThe Henry Ford1.8M visitors a year
22 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 · Fox Theatre: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 · The Henry Ford: Alvintrusty, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Saint Clair: Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo
Who provides power, water and the rest in Madison 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 Madison Heights.
Madison Heights draws workers from Detroit and beyond, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
On this, Madison Heights is close to Michigan’s towns (4.4%) and above U.S. towns (4.3%). 9.1 miles of trail in 16 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Civic Center Park | 1.9 mi | 38 |
| 2. Red Oaks Nature Center | 1.5 mi | 38 |
| 3. Ambassador Park | 0.4 mi | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Lamphere Public Schools. Three of its 15 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 538 | B− |
| Lamphere High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 753 | B |
| Lessenger Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 259 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
20,515 jobs are based in Madison Heights, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Madison Heights for work: only 7% work in town. 20% of Madison Heights workers work from home. The top destinations are Detroit (11%), Troy (11%) and Warren (7%).
| Madison Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 20% | 10% | 11% |
| Median household income | $70,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Against the 10,483 U.S. towns with household incomes like Madison Heights’s, it is healthier than 88%, so its B+ isn’t only a matter of income.
13% of adults report frequent physical distress in Madison Heights. Madison Heights beats the Michigan average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 33% of adults have obesity in Madison Heights.
| Madison Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 37% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 12% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 25% | 25% |
| What stands out | Madison Heights | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 3% | 3.7% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 8.3% | 10.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 73% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Madison Heights since 1981.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Reported crimes fell from 613 to 461 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate in Madison Heights is 2.9 per 1,000 residents. Madison Heights reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 68% report less. The property crime rate in Madison Heights is 13.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Madison Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.9 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 13.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.8 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Madison Heights 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
At 2.8 years of the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income, the typical home (about $216K) costs less against local pay than in 78% of Michigan towns; that ratio is one input to its B− for cost of living.
The typical Madison Heights home is worth about $216,000, down 1.2% in a year, 18% below the Michigan typical home.
| Madison Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 65% | 84% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,176 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Adults 18 to 34 are 29% of residents (22% statewide); children under 18 are 15% of residents (21% statewide). 34% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Michigan. Madison Heights’ median age is 39 years.
| Madison Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 15% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 26% | 29% |
| Median age | 39 years | 42.5 years | 40.5 years |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.8 points. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Madison Heights | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.9% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.9% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.4% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 20.8% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.3% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.1% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.9% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.9% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.9% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.6% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.8% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.5% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.3% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.9% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
19 within 15 miles of the center of Madison Heights
About 5 of every 100 Madison Heights residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
City in Michigan, United States
Madison Heights is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Madison Heights is located roughly 12 miles (19.3 km) north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 28,468.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Madison Heights.
Royal Oak next door grades higher for schools (A− to Madison Heights’s B−) and lower for cost of living (C− to B−).
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Heights | #303 | B | B− | C | B− | B+ |
| Royal Oak | #74 | A | C− | B | A− | A+ |
| Troy | #98 | A | D | B | A+ | A+ |
| Warren | #612 | C− | C+ | C− | B | C− |
| Hazel Park | #539 | C | B | C | D | B− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Madison Heights grades B overall, better than 62% of U.S. towns and #303 of 697 in Michigan. It grades B+ 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 B−.
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