Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Pleasant Ridge grades B+ overall, 228th among Michigan's 697 graded towns. On CDC health estimates it is near the top nationally. The median household earns $171K and it reports less crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns. The trade-off is money: the typical home is worth about $483K, 6.3 years of the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income. 79% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Pleasant Ridge, above both the Michigan town median (26%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Pleasant Ridge's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 98% of U.S. towns. Pleasant Ridge has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Pleasant Ridge Historic District and Pleasant Ridge East Historic District.
Where Pleasant Ridge beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Pleasant Ridge | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5% | 15.4% |
Pleasant Ridge Historic DistrictWhere Pleasant Ridge’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 Pleasant Ridge is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 472 in 1920, a peak of 3,989 in 1970, 2,627 in 2020. The archive holds 3 old photos and papers going back to 2017 and 8 maps from 1905 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Pleasant Ridge. Close and well known come first.
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaMichigan Stadium
Big draw10 mi Stadium & arenaFord Field
10 mi Stadium & arenaComerica Park
10 mi TheatreFox Theatre
13 mi MuseumThe Henry Ford1.8M visitors a year
9 mi MuseumDetroit Institute of ArtsMichigan 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 · Detroit Institute of Arts: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Pleasant Ridge, 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 Pleasant Ridge.
Pleasant Ridge is among the three healthiest towns in Michigan, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Michigan and has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
At 6.3 years of the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income, the typical home (about $483K) costs more against local pay than in 96% of Michigan towns; that ratio is one input to its C− for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $6,804, against $2,904 across Michigan, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Pleasant Ridge’s median rent is $1,720 a month. Typical home values rose 4.7% in the year to September 2026. 96% of households own their home in Pleasant Ridge.
| Pleasant Ridge | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,720 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 96% | 84% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
It ranks #2 of the 701 Michigan towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with Michigan is food insecurity: 5% of its 2,105 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.4% statewide.
12% of Pleasant Ridge adults report frequent mental distress. Among 701 Michigan towns, just 2 have a lower share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Pleasant Ridge. 8.9% of Pleasant Ridge adults report frequent physical distress.
| Pleasant Ridge | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 18% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 8.9% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 25% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.2% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Pleasant Ridge | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5% | 15.4% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 3.4% | 10.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025, 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
The property crime rate in Pleasant Ridge is 3.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Pleasant Ridge | 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) | 0.8 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Jobs based here fell from 540 in 2011 to 407. 30.9% of workers work from home, against 13.5% across Michigan.
Only 6 of the 701 Michigan towns we compare have a higher median household income than Pleasant Ridge. Jobs based in Pleasant Ridge fell to 407 in 2021, 133 fewer than in 2011. Most working residents leave Pleasant Ridge for work: only 2% work in town.
| Pleasant Ridge | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $171,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 2.5% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.5% | 5.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 76% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Pleasant Ridge 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
| Pleasant Ridge | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.3% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gainsboro Park | — | 6 |
| 2. Community Center Park | 0.1 mi | 3 |
| 3. Woodward Greenbelt Parks | 0.2 mi | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
21 within 15 miles of the center of Pleasant Ridge
About 5 of every 100 Pleasant Ridge residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
3 places in Pleasant Ridge on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Michigan, United States
Pleasant Ridge is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit on the Woodward Corridor, Pleasant Ridge is located roughly 11 miles (17.7 km) northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 2,627. With a land area of 0.57 square miles (1.48 km2), Pleasant Ridge is the fifth-smallest city by land area in the state of Michigan after the cities of Sylvan Lake, Keego Harbor, Petersburg, and Clarkston.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Pleasant Ridge.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Ridge | #228 | B+ | C− | A− | C | A+ |
| Ferndale | #396 | B− | C+ | C | C− | A |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Pleasant Ridge grades B+ overall, better than 71% of U.S. towns and #228 of 697 in Michigan. It grades A+ for health, A− for safety and C for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
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