Is Sylvan Lake a good place to live?
Sylvan Lake’s best subject grades are an A for health and incomes and an A− for safety; its weakest is a D for schools. Only 51 of Michigan’s 1,265 towns score lower on civic life. Sylvan Lake has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Sylvan Lake stand out
Where Sylvan Lake beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Sylvan Lake | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7% | 15.4% |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
How Sylvan Lake grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Sylvan Lake is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Sylvan Lake: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sylvan Lake, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Sylvan Lake.
A smaller share of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Sylvan Lake than in most of Michigan or the rest of the country
The share of adults in Sylvan Lake who report frequent mental distress: 14%. 31% of Sylvan Lake adults have obesity, against 37% in Michigan’s towns and 35% across U.S. towns. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Sylvan Lake is ahead of Michigan on 25 and behind on 1. Among adults in the town, 16% get no exercise outside work and 28% feel lonely.
| Sylvan Lake | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 18% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 25% | 25% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 33% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.6% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Sylvan Lake | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7% | 15.4% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 4.7% | 10.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.9% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
A home in Sylvan Lake is worth about $370K, on Zillow’s estimate
Homes sold in Sylvan Lake spent a median 21 days on the market. Sylvan Lake: 82% of households own their home. Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 1.3% in value.
| Sylvan Lake | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 82% | 84% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,113 a month | $1,046 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
In Sylvan Lake, violent crime runs lower than in the typical Michigan or U.S. town
Sylvan Lake’s level of property crime is 5.3 per 1,000 residents, where Michigan’s towns sit at 7.9 and U.S. towns at 9.9.
| Sylvan Lake | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.3 per 1,000 residents | 7.9 | 9.9 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The biggest natural risk in Sylvan Lake is inland flooding, at a low overall level
The FEMA hazard score in Sylvan Lake is 30 of 100. FEMA puts 56% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 23% to tornadoes. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2023.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Four seasons and pleasant summers in Sylvan Lake
Sylvan Lake brings chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Summer afternoons peak near 83° in July, and January nights bottom out around 16°; snowfall runs to about 36 inches a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Sylvan Lake has 0.8 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
17% of workers work from home in Sylvan Lake. For most workers, Sylvan Lake is a place to come home to: only 3% work in town. The median household income for Sylvan Lake comes to $106,000. The top destinations are Troy (8%), Detroit (8%) and Waterford Township (6%).
| Sylvan Lake | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 17% | 10% | 11% |
| Median household income | $106,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 5.4% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.6% | 5.9% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Sylvan Lake keeps 2.9% of its land conserved
For Sylvan Lake, the concentration of trails is 0.6 miles per square mile. 0.5 miles of trail wind through 4 parks and preserves.
| Sylvan Lake | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.9% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Clinton River Trail | — | 7 |
| 2. Community Center Park | 0.1 mi | 5 |
| 3. Ferndale Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Michigan Stadium and 56 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Sylvan Lake. Close and well known come first.
Big draw32 mi Stadium & arenaMichigan Stadium
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaFord Field
24 mi Stadium & arenaComerica Park
22 mi MuseumThe Henry Ford1.8M visitors a year
24 mi TheatreFox Theatre
35 mi LakeLake Saint ClairPhoto credits
Michigan 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
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Everything we know about Sylvan Lake
Colleges nearby
11 within 15 miles of the center of Sylvan Lake
About 5 of every 100 Sylvan Lake residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Michigan.
About Sylvan Lake
City in Michigan, United States
Sylvan Lake is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Detroit, Sylvan Lake is located roughly 26 miles (41.8 km) from downtown Detroit, and borders Pontiac to the east. As of the 2020 census, Sylvan Lake had a population of 1,723. With a land area of 0.51 square miles (1.32 km2), Sylvan Lake is the fourth-smallest city by land area in the state after Clarkston, Petersburg, and neighboring Keego Harbor.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Established
- 1824
- Area
- 0.8 sq mi
- Elevation
- 955 ft
- Area code
- 248
Sylvan Lake’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Sylvan Lake.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sylvan Lake | — | — | C− | A− | D | A |
| West Bloomfield Township | #135 | A− | D | A− | A | A |
| Pontiac | #682 | D | B+ | D | D | D |
| Waterford Township | #346 | B | C+ | B− | B− | B+ |
Sylvan Lake has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Compare Sylvan Lake with a neighbor →
Questions about Sylvan Lake
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Sylvan Lake, MI expensive?
Yes. That is 4.8 years of the area's median household income ($76,664 across the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.