Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 133,931, settled in 1968. Public schools that outperform most of Michigan.
Trash day: look up yoursSterling Heights is a city of 133,931, and it grades C+ overall, 447th of 697 graded towns in Michigan. Its schools rank ahead of 76% of Michigan towns. The trade-off: the typical home is worth about $305K, 4 years of the Detroit metro’s $77K median household income. Only 4 of Michigan’s 1,265 towns score lower on civic life. Sterling Heights has 1 place on the National Register. Clinton River Park, at 189 acres with 2.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Sterling Heights beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Sterling Heights is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,648 in 1940, 134,346 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1976 and 7 maps from 1908 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Sterling Heights. Close and well known come first.
Big draw17 mi Stadium & arenaFord Field
17 mi Stadium & arenaComerica Park
20 mi LakeLake Saint Clair
17 mi TheatreFox Theatre
22 mi MuseumThe Henry Ford1.8M visitors a year
15 mi MuseumDetroit Institute of ArtsFord Field: Unknown, CC BY 2.5 · Comerica Park: City of Detroit, Public domain · Lake Saint Clair: Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · 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 Sterling 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 Sterling Heights.
Sterling Heights trades workers with Troy and other neighbors, but it has seen reported crime rise beyond ordinary swings.
Trails total 15 miles in 38 parks and preserves. Parks and preserves in Sterling Heights: 38, covering 1,042 acres.
| Sterling Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7.4% | 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. Clinton River Park | 2.3 mi | 189 |
| 2. Joseph E. Delia Junior Park | 0.8 mi | 130 |
| 3. Dodge Park | 0.8 mi | 39 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Three of its 35 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. The public schools here belong to the Utica Community Schools. The 6 public schools in Sterling Heights teach 3,326 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bemis Junior High SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 742 | A− |
| Adlai Stevenson High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,881 | B |
| Messmore Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 332 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
A winter brings about 32 inches of snow, with January nights at 18° and July afternoons at 84°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Sterling Heights has about as many jobs (52,562) as working residents, but only 6,258 people both live and work here.
Sterling Heights: 12% of working residents work locally. Employers in Sterling Heights added 6,371 jobs between 2011 and 2021, to 52,562. The median commute is under 9 miles. The top destinations are Troy (11%), Warren (10%) and Detroit (8%).
| Sterling Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 16% | 10% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
A home in Sterling Heights typically sold within 12 days of listing. Sterling Heights: 57% of renter households spend 30% or more of their income on rent, against 45% in Michigan’s towns and 48% across U.S. towns. In Sterling Heights, the typical rent is $1,292 a month. Zillow values the typical Sterling Heights home at about $305,000, up 0.9% in a year, 16% above the Michigan typical home.
| Sterling Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 57% | 45% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,292 a month | $1,045 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The FEMA hazard score for Sterling Heights comes to 42 of 100, above the Michigan town median (25 of 100) and near the median of U.S. towns (44 of 100). Federal disaster aid has reached households in Sterling Heights after 7 declared disasters, most recently in 2023. Expected losses in Sterling Heights break down as 51% from inland flooding and 24% from tornadoes. Since 1979, Sterling Heights has seen 23 flood insurance claims paid out.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
By age, Sterling Heights looks like Michigan: each broad group is within 4 points. 19% of residents are under 18 locally. A bachelor’s degree or higher: 31% of adults 25 and older, vs 32% across Michigan.
| Sterling Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 26% | 29% |
51.2% women, 48.8% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Michigan, 50.4% of residents are women. Median age: women 43.2, men 40.5.
| Sterling Heights | MI | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.2% | 11.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.2% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.4% | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.8% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.1% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.5% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.6% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.1% | 11.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.1% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 13.1% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.2% | 28% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.7% | 21.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.9% | 9.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.8% | 19.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.4% | 12.7% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Reported crimes rose from 1,686 to 1,842 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Sterling Heights’ violent crime rate comes in at 2.2 per 1,000 residents. For Sterling Heights, the level of property crime is 11.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Sterling Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11.5 per 1,000 residents | 7.8 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.2 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Sterling Heights tracks Michigan closely on all 32 CDC measures. The share of adults in Sterling Heights who have been diagnosed with depression: 26%.
| Sterling Heights | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 81% | 80% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 27% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 34% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 25% | 25% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
12 within 15 miles of the center of Sterling Heights
About 7 of every 100 Sterling Heights residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
13 notable people were born in Sterling Heights.
City in Michigan, United States
Sterling Heights is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Detroit, Sterling Heights is located roughly 18 miles (29.0 km) north of Downtown. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 134,346, placing Sterling Heights as the second-largest suburb of Detroit and the fourth-most populous city in Michigan.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Sterling Heights.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling Heights | #447 | C+ | C− | B− | A− | B− |
| Utica | #410 | B− | C | C− | A− | B− |
| Shelby Township | #207 | B+ | C− | B+ | A− | B+ |
| Troy | #98 | A | D | B | A+ | A+ |
| Clinton Township | #440 | C+ | C+ | C | A− | C+ |
| Warren | #612 | C− | C+ | C− | B | C− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Sterling Heights grades C+ overall, better than 44% of U.S. towns and #447 of 697 in Michigan. It grades B− for health, B− for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
13 notable people were born here, including Derian Hatcher and Greg Pateryn.
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