Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 76,111, settled in 1823. A regional job hub with 88,414 jobs.
Trash day: look up yoursSouthfield is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 615th among Michigan's 697 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $68K. Expect to pay for it: homes are expensive, about $251K for a typical one and 3.3 times the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income. Southfield’s violent offense rate is 5.8 per 1,000 residents, above both the Michigan town median (1.9) and the median of U.S. towns (1.6). Only 98 of Michigan’s 1,279 towns score higher on walkability. Southfield is home to Lawrence Technological University.
Where Southfield beats most towns.
2 colleges in town.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Southfield is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Its founding year, 1823, comes before those of 94% of the Michigan towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 31,531 in 1960, 76,618 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1970 and 8 maps from 1905 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Southfield. Close and well known come first.
Big draw29 mi Stadium & arenaMichigan Stadium
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaFord Field
14 mi Stadium & arenaComerica Park
12 mi MuseumThe Henry Ford1.8M visitors a year
14 mi TheatreFox Theatre
13 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 · The Henry Ford: Alvintrusty, CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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 Southfield, 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 Southfield.
Southfield draws workers from Detroit and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
Count the trails in 27 parks and preserves and they come to 25 miles. The biggest place to walk is Valley Woods Nature Preserve, 127 acres with 1.4 miles of trail. Southfield’s density of trails is 0.9 miles per square mile.
| Southfield | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.9 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.1% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Civic Center Park | 3.9 mi | 96 |
| 2. Beech Woods Park | 2.2 mi | 78 |
| 3. Bauervic Woods Nature Preserve | 2.1 mi | 79 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Two of its 23 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. The 6 public schools in Southfield teach 3,189 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laurus AcademyLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 791 | C− |
| Southfield High School for the Arts and TechnologyLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,049 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
88,414 jobs are based in Southfield, 3.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Half commute less than 12 miles. 17% of workers do their job from home in Southfield. Also worth knowing: only 11% of working residents stay in Southfield for work; the rest commute out. The top destinations are Detroit (20%), Troy (5%) and Warren (4%).
| Southfield | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 17% | 10% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 11% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Median household income | $68,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Southfield’s property offense rate stands at 23.1 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Of the losses FEMA expects in Southfield, 44% come from inland flooding and 29% from tornadoes. On expected storm and flood damage, Southfield sits below 85% of U.S. communities. The national flood insurance program has paid 19 claims here since 1981.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
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
The share of residents in Southfield who are under 18: 18%. People 65 and older are 23% of residents (19% statewide). The bachelor’s-degree share among adults 25 and older is 41%, against 32% across Michigan.
| Southfield | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 41% | 26% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 23% | 19% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 18% | 21% | 22% |
54% women, 46% men
About 85 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.2 points). Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women. Median age: women 46.5, men 37.3.
| Southfield | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.6% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.7% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.2% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.2% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.9% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.5% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.2% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.8% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.8% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.3% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 18.5% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 26.7% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.8% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.8% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 18.9% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Southfield: 53% of households are owner-occupiers. The typical Southfield home is worth about $251,000, up 1.9% in a year, close to the Michigan typical home. Its rent at the middle of the market is $1,340 a month.
| Southfield | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 53% | 84% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 55% | 45% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,340 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Against the 10,340 U.S. towns with household incomes like Southfield’s, it is healthier than 66%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Among adults in Southfield, 16% report frequent mental distress. Against the Michigan average, Southfield comes out ahead on 9 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 9. In Southfield, 18% of adults have been diagnosed with depression, and 44% have high blood pressure. Only 4 of the 701 Michigan towns we compare have a higher share of adults who had a checkup this year than Southfield.
| Southfield | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 17% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 27% | 23% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 36% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 85% | 80% | 79% |
| What stands out | Southfield | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with depression | 18.4% | 25.7% |
| Fewer binge drinkers | 11.8% | 15.9% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 12.5% | 8.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
21 within 15 miles of the center of Southfield
About 6 of every 100 Southfield residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
Where Southfield’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
23 notable people were born in Southfield.
City in Michigan, United States
Southfield is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Southfield lies roughly 15 miles (24.1 km) northwest of downtown Detroit. The city had a population of 76,618 at the 2020 census. Southfield home to multiple business districts, including the Southfield City Centre (an edge city which contains the tallest building in Detroit's suburbs) and the area surrounding the former Northland Center shopping mall. It is also home to Lawrence Technological University. The city was originally part of Southfield Township before incorporating in 1958. The autonomous city of Lathrup Village is an enclave within Southfield. Southfield is also a historic cen…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Southfield.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southfield | #615 | C− | C− | D | C+ | B− |
| Southfield Township | #46 | A | D | — | A+ | A+ |
| Beverly Hills | #21 | A+ | D | A− | A+ | A+ |
| Bingham Farms | — | — | D | — | A+ | A |
| Oak Park | #643 | D | C | C− | D | B− |
| Franklin | #37 | A | C− | B+ | A+ | A |
| Farmington Hills | #205 | B+ | D | B | A− | A |
| Detroit | #680 | D | B+ | D− | C− | D− |
Bingham Farms has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Southfield Township and Bingham Farms report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Southfield with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Southfield grades C− overall, better than 16% of U.S. towns and #615 of 697 in Michigan. It grades B− for health, D for safety and C+ for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
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−.
23 notable people were born here, including Selma Blair and Keegan-Michael Key.
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