Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Detroit might be more expensive than living in rural Michigan, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Detroit neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Detroit are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Detroit for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Eliza Howell looks to be the cheapest Detroit neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Detroit. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Detroit that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Detroit.
For more Michigan reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Michigan
- Cheapest Places To Live In Michigan
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- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Detroit For 2024
/10
Population: 839
Cost Of Living Index: 79 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.4 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.011 (5th cheapest)
More on Eliza Howell: Data | Real Estate
/10
Population: 4,438
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (28th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.9 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (23rd cheapest)
More on Kranz Woods: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 732
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (28th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.1 (12th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (17th cheapest)
More on Michigan-Martin: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,376
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (18th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.2 (14th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (25th cheapest)
More on Gold Coast: Data | Real Estate
/10
Population: 3,888
Cost Of Living Index: 84 (38th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.2 (15th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (14th cheapest)
More on Aviation: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,504
Cost Of Living Index: 86 (55th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.8 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (11th cheapest)
More on Regent Park: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,304
Cost Of Living Index: 81 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.0 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.026 (48th cheapest)
More on Ravendale: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 13,628
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (18th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (4cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (16th cheapest)
More on Southwest Detroit: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 13,921
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (18th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.3 (25th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (33rd cheapest)
More on Springwells: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,880
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (28th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.2 (47th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (8th cheapest)
More on Hubbard-Richard: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Detroit Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Detroit, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 82 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Detroit.” We’re lookin’ at you, Eliza Howell.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Detroit. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Detroit
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Detroit where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Detroit are Eliza Howell, Kranz Woods, Michigan-Martin, Gold Coast, Aviation, Regent Park, Ravendale, Southwest Detroit, Springwells, and Hubbard-Richard.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Detroit aren’t all cheap. Art Center takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Detroit.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Detroit are Art Center, Brush Park, West Village, Midtown, and Rivertown.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more Michigan reading, check out:
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