Best Places48069, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 48069, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
48069 ranks 1,357th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 48069
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
48069's strengths and weaknesses
Where 48069 ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Household income$184,551 median, better than 99% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of zip codes
Where 48069 ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 30% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 48069
A household needs to earn about $140,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 48069 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $184,551, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 48069's effective rate of 1.53%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 48069
48069 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 48069.
Who works in 48069, and how
Work in 48069 centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in 48069
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 48069.
What the weather is like in 48069, month by month
48069 sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of 48069
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 21 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 48069
Schools across 48069 average a C, better than 34% of zip codes.
Top middle schools
- Ferndale Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Ferndale High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 48069 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
48069 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 48069 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 48069
Is 48069 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 48069 ranks 1,357th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on an educated workforce, what local pay buys, and health care access, and lowest on noise and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 48069 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $487,743. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $184,551 median income, cost of living beats 100% of zip codes.
Is 48069 safe?
48069 is safer than 44% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
Compare 48069 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 48069. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 48069 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
48069 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 48069: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 48069: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 48069: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 48069: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
48069 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.