Safe Neighborhoods/towns near Detroit MI.

[RussianJoo]

So I am moving to Detroit for residency, I've only been there once for my interview and I know that there are some very unsafe poor areas. Could someone list a few towns that are safe and nice to live in that are within a 10-15min drive to downtown Detroit? I know Royal Oaks is nice any other towns like that?


thanks for your help.

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[Caerus]

Privet,

Livonia, Royal Oak, and Farmington are good places to live in but they will be at least 15-20min from downtown. A little closer are Dearborn Heights, Southfield, and St. Clair Shores which are not as good but livable. Personally, I wouldn't feel safe living within a 10 min radius from downtown.

Vsego horeshego.

 

[peppy]

If I were doing a residency at Wayne State, I'd live in either Royal Oak or Ferndale.
The Grosse Pointes are definitely nice, safe areas but also kind of have a stodgy "old money" sort of rep that might not be much fun for a young resident.
Congrats. I grew up in metro Detroit. In spite of the downtown's horrible reputation it has some very awesome, fun suburbs.

 

[2Sexy4MedSchool]

"Grosse Point Blank" is a fantastic movie that has nothing at all to do with medicine, residency or student loans, but has lots of great one-liners and a killer soundtrack.

You should rent it today!

 

[SAvoodoo]

If I were doing a residency at Wayne State, I'd live in either Royal Oak or Ferndale.
The Grosse Pointes are definitely nice, safe areas but also kind of have a stodgy "old money" sort of rep that might not be much fun for a young resident.
Congrats. I grew up in metro Detroit. In spite of the downtown's horrible reputation it has some very awesome, fun suburbs.

grew up there (GP)...nothing to do in terms of night life really but fantastic for family (great schools, some of the best in the state, very safe, nice homes, etc). just depends on your personality and what you like to do. if you're into bar hopping/night life then royal oak is much more fitting. the nicest thing about GP is you get everything you could want for a family and are still only 10-15 min from downtown (pro sports, restaurants, theatres, bars museums etc).

as the the op, the poor/unsafe areas are in the city proper mostly so as long as you're not in the limits you'll be fine. i don't know which hospital you're at for residency but my mom has worked at dmc, st johns and henry ford and was only 15-20 min or less from each one. any specific questions just ask away

 

[RussianJoo]

Cool thanks a lot of all your help guys, much appriciated.

About living in downtown..I saw some nice looking luxury apt. buildings on the water, they have a parking garage, 24 hours security and i think they're in a gated community. And 3 miles from the hospital. what do you guys think? there's one next to the GM Renaissance center.




my problem is that all the places I am looking at seem really old in the pictures and the kitchens especially look like they're from the 70's.. the brand new places are a little too much or out of the way, mostly out of the way. I know that being from NJ I shouldn't complain about rent prices but I don't really want to spend more than $850/month and I would like to have a carport or a garage so that i don't have to constantly clean the snow off my car. And so far I haven't found much. That Luxury apt. on the River looks really nice on the website and looks like it's a brand new building.

 

[RussianJoo]

Privet,

Livonia, Royal Oak, and Farmington are good places to live in but they will be at least 15-20min from downtown. A little closer are Dearborn Heights, Southfield, and St. Clair Shores which are not as good but livable. Personally, I wouldn't feel safe living within a 10 min radius from downtown.

Vsego horeshego.

hey thanks for the info, how's the Russian community in or near detroit? any good russian supermarkets near by? any russian ladies?

 

[daveyjwin]

First of all, you don't want to live downtown. Unless you want to own The Club for your car. Second of all, you're going to need to look more in to 20-25 minute range to get to nice areas. Freeways are important. 20 minutes on the freeway will get you a ways outside the city proper, 20 minutes in town will get you to more ghetto. Try to get someplace near the freeway if possible.

You could always live in Windsor, ON. I've never had to "commute" it, but they have a Nexus Pass for frequent border crossers, with special lanes and stuff. And Windsor is nice. Way nicer than Detroit.

Also, you can get info on Crime Stats (and tons more) for the various suburbs and whatnot from City-Data.com

 

[Caerus]

hey thanks for the info, how's the Russian community in or near detroit? any good russian supermarkets near by? any russian ladies?

Hey, fellow Russian Jew!

There are quite a few Russians around the area. Most of them are a bit north though (West Bloomfield, Farmigton Hills). They have several russian stores and restaurants there. If you are looking for the russian girls (who isn't? ) there is a Russian dance party every 2 weeks in one of the Pontiac clubs. I'll be doing my residency in the detroit area, send PM me if you want to get in touch.

Later.

 

[RussianJoo]

First of all, you don't want to live downtown. Unless you want to own The Club for your car. Second of all, you're going to need to look more in to 20-25 minute range to get to nice areas. Freeways are important. 20 minutes on the freeway will get you a ways outside the city proper, 20 minutes in town will get you to more ghetto. Try to get someplace near the freeway if possible.

You could always live in Windsor, ON. I've never had to "commute" it, but they have a Nexus Pass for frequent border crossers, with special lanes and stuff. And Windsor is nice. Way nicer than Detroit.

Also, you can get info on Crime Stats (and tons more) for the various suburbs and whatnot from City-Data.com

lol i'm already an owner of the Club. the place I am looking at is a gated community with a secured entry/exit parking garage, so hopefully it will be safe. thank you for the heads up though.

 

[starbuckscoffee]

Would there be any issue living at one of these luxury apartments with 24 hour doormen and gated/attended garages?

First of all, you don't want to live downtown. Unless you want to own The Club for your car. Second of all, you're going to need to look more in to 20-25 minute range to get to nice areas. Freeways are important. 20 minutes on the freeway will get you a ways outside the city proper, 20 minutes in town will get you to more ghetto. Try to get someplace near the freeway if possible.

You could always live in Windsor, ON. I've never had to "commute" it, but they have a Nexus Pass for frequent border crossers, with special lanes and stuff. And Windsor is nice. Way nicer than Detroit.

Also, you can get info on Crime Stats (and tons more) for the various suburbs and whatnot from City-Data.com

 

[sunset823]

Though I've not personally lived in Detroit, I have lots of friends who go to WSU and live downtown, and the downtown is not as horrible (in all parts) as people make it out to be. The DMC/Wayne State campus area is generally well guarded, and there are quite a few apartments/condos a stone's throw from the hospital that are actually pretty nice and decently priced (unlike the places on the Detroit River - not worth the premium to live on a rather crappy waterway connecting to a crappy lake, which I've lived near most of my life). I would say anything within a half mile of the WSU campus should be adequately safe. Try talking to the student affairs office, I'm sure they'll have some places to direct you to.

Beyond that, if you're a guy (which from your posts I'm assuming you are) and have an old car, you could probably manage in some other parts of downtown, with a guarded indoor garage and all. I don't think you have to go all the way out to Royal Oak unless you're a girl, married, or have a lot of luxury items you carry around with you, that seems like an unnecessary commute with resident hours. But again, I only speak from others' experiences, the only place I've lived in Michigan is Ann Arbor.

 

[RussianJoo]

Though I've not personally lived in Detroit, I have lots of friends who go to WSU and live downtown, and the downtown is not as horrible (in all parts) as people make it out to be. The DMC/Wayne State campus area is generally well guarded, and there are quite a few apartments/condos a stone's throw from the hospital that are actually pretty nice and decently priced (unlike the places on the Detroit River - not worth the premium to live on a rather crappy waterway connecting to a crappy lake, which I've lived near most of my life). I would say anything within a half mile of the WSU campus should be adequately safe. Try talking to the student affairs office, I'm sure they'll have some places to direct you to.

Beyond that, if you're a guy (which from your posts I'm assuming you are) and have an old car, you could probably manage in some other parts of downtown, with a guarded indoor garage and all. I don't think you have to go all the way out to Royal Oak unless you're a girl, married, or have a lot of luxury items you carry around with you, that seems like an unnecessary commute with resident hours. But again, I only speak from others' experiences, the only place I've lived in Michigan is Ann Arbor.

I agree about the unnecessary commute.. my residency coordinator isn't very helpful, if you hear of anything from your wayne state buddies do mind sending me a private message? I really don't want to commute 25min each way everyday, and once it starts to snow that 25 min will turn into 45 easily and after a long day that will suck. and yes i am a dude.

 

[angel80]

The luxery apartements on the river you are probably referring to are the Riverfront apartments, which are very nice, safe and secure. I know a lot of people who lived there during medical school and residency, who really liked them. Because of the security, parking garage, it may take a while to get in and out. It's not like walking out the front door, getting in your car and driving. The problem with the city of Detroit is that because of crime, there are no big chain grocery stores. There are few restaurant chains, bookstores, coffee shops, outside of select areas (such as the Wayne State campus, some areas downtown). If you live in the city, you end up having to drive to the suburbs all the time to do your grocery shopping, go to the mall, etc. I guess it may be worth it though if you don't have to drive as far to get to work. I've always lived in the suburbs and commuted 20-30 min to the city.

 

[RussianJoo]

The luxery apartements on the river you are probably referring to are the Riverfront apartments, which are very nice, safe and secure. I know a lot of people who lived there during medical school and residency, who really liked them. Because of the security, parking garage, it may take a while to get in and out. It's not like walking out the front door, getting in your car and driving. The problem with the city of Detroit is that because of crime, there are no big chain grocery stores. There are few restaurant chains, bookstores, coffee shops, outside of select areas (such as the Wayne State campus, some areas downtown). If you live in the city, you end up having to drive to the suburbs all the time to do your grocery shopping, go to the mall, etc. I guess it may be worth it though if you don't have to drive as far to get to work. I've always lived in the suburbs and commuted 20-30 min to the city.

i guess different people value things differently. Since i only go food shopping once a week but go to work everyday i would much rather have a 5min commute to work and save a substantial amount on gas than commute 20-30min to work (and that's on a nice sunny day, i am sure once it snows that commute turns into 40-45 min). maybe if i went to the supermarket everyday or to a mall it would make more sense to live in the burbs. but this is residency not some 9 to 5 job. most days i'll be so tired that being home in 5min will be awesome.

 

[erectorspinae]

Hi kind of different scenario same topic. I'm thinking about DMC, Beaumont, or Henry Ford potentially for residency. My GF has grad program she's interested in UM. Any good midway points? Is this commute doable potentially?
Thanks for the help!

 

[inked_caduceus]

I lived in Dearborn Heights and Roseville for my time at Wayne State - I liked both of them because no matter where you live in Detroit, you're always going to end up driving somewhere else.

Both areas are well situated to main freeways (Southfield and I-96 or I-94 and 696), have excellent price points to own or rent, and are generally good places to live.

The biggest pain about living downtown is that EVERYTHING closes at 6. Or if you need to run to target after work, you're looking at 15-20 minutes down a freeway.

Good luck! Eat coney dogs and good greek food for me...

 

[sunset823]

Hi kind of different scenario same topic. I'm thinking about DMC, Beaumont, or Henry Ford potentially for residency. My GF has grad program she's interested in UM. Any good midway points? Is this commute doable potentially?
Thanks for the help!

I don't know if you are looking to buy a house, how much money you have, etc., but some good halfway points between Ann Arbor and Detroit are Canton, Novi, Livonia, Northville, etc. These are all relatively high socioeconomic status communities, with large single-family homes, but the housing market in the whole area is pretty depressed, so I'm sure you can find good deals. Canton also has some condos you can look at.

I don't know about residency hours, but generally the commute is very doable both ways. I had friends living in Canton commute to school every day at UMich (undergrad), and also friends commute from Livonia, etc. to Wayne State during med school.

I would not recommend Wayne/Westland (I dub it wasteland), Inkster, basically anywhere south of Michigan Ave and east of Canton. They are relatively poor communities, though I'm sure you could find a place dirt cheap there.

 

[docbill]

Grosse Pointe is great. I don't know what the previous poster was talking about... old money... so what. 15 min from DMC. Royal Oak is very nice, but hitting traffic every morning will suck. Dearborn heights is nice but it is Beirut central.. not sure how RJ would feel about that.

 

[starbuckscoffee]

Anyone have suggestions for particular apartment communities to check out in Ferndale or Grosse Pointe? I'm not having much luck finding nice-looking places on the internet.

 

[a_ditchdoc]

Anyone have suggestions for particular apartment communities to check out in Ferndale or Grosse Pointe? I'm not having much luck finding nice-looking places on the internet.

I live in Oak Park in a townhome. It is not in a trendy neughborhood, but it is safe. I live about 1 mile from both Ferndale and Royal Oak. The rent is on the reasonable/high side for a 2 bedroom with a basement, although they are likely offering renters good incentives now. I found the place by driving by and noting a vacancy after a few disappointing apartment views. A friend found an amazining house in Ferndale by looking around when he arrived as well. You'll pay a premium in Royal Oak, bu it is a nice place to live.

It is impossible to judge places on the internet. I would suggest flying in for a few days if possible before moving all of your belongings up. You can get a flavor for the city and neighborhoods as well as see what options and prices are available. With the exception of the downtown area, don't consider living below 9 mile road.

 

[Iwy Em Hotep]

Hi kind of different scenario same topic. I'm thinking about DMC, Beaumont, or Henry Ford potentially for residency. My GF has grad program she's interested in UM. Any good midway points? Is this commute doable potentially?
Thanks for the help!

Lived in AA, commute to HF everyday for internship. 45m and doable.