Best Places48138, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 48138, 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.
48138 ranks 3,449th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 48138
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.
48138's strengths and weaknesses
Where 48138 ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of zip codes
- Household income$137,262 median, better than 94% of zip codes
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of zip codes
Where 48138 ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 48138
A household needs to earn about $109,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 48138 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $137,262, 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 48138's effective rate of 1.62%, 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 48138
48138 runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 48138.
Who works in 48138, and how
Work in 48138 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in 48138
48138 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 83% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 48138 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 48138, month by month
48138 sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 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 | 57° | 47° | 39° |
| July | 83° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 63° | 55° | 48° |
Flying in and out of 48138
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 12 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 48138
Schools across 48138 average a B, better than 68% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Meridian Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Jesse L Anderson Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Parsons Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Grosse Ile Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Shumate Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Woodrow Wilson SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Grosse Ile High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Trenton High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Roosevelt High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 48138 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
48138 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 48138 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 48138
Is 48138 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 48138 ranks 3,449th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and what local pay buys, and lowest on car insurance costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 48138 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $374,752. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $137,262 median income, cost of living beats 97% of zip codes.
Is 48138 safe?
Yes, 48138 is safer than 78% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
Compare 48138 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 48138. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 48138 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.
48138 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 48138: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 48138: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 48138: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 48138: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
48138 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.