Best PlacesForest Hills, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Forest Hills, 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.
Forest Hills ranks 27th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Forest Hills
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.
Forest Hills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Forest Hills ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of cities
Where Forest Hills ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 8% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 23% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Forest Hills
A household needs to earn about $145,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Forest Hills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $168,350, 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 Forest Hills' effective rate of 1.15%, 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 Forest Hills
Forest Hills runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Forest Hills.
Who works in Forest Hills, and how
Work in Forest Hills centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Forest Hills
Forest Hills has more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Forest Hills and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Forest Hills, month by month
Forest Hills sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Forest Hills
The nearest airport, Gerald R Ford International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Forest Hills
Schools across Forest Hills average an A−, better than 88% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Ada Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Pine Ridge Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Knapp Forest Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Eastern Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Northern Hills Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Central High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Eastern High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Northern High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Forest Hills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Forest Hills 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 Forest Hills against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Forest Hills suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of cities and 22% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Forest Hills
Is Forest Hills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Forest Hills ranks 27th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and what local pay buys, and lowest on cell coverage and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Forest Hills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $528,537. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $168,350 median income, cost of living beats 99% of cities.
Is Forest Hills safe?
Yes, Forest Hills is safer than 98% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $172 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Forest Hills?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 19. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 23% of cities.
Is Forest Hills good for families?
Schools beat 88% of cities, crime safety beats 98%, and childcare runs $776 a month.
Compare Forest Hills with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Forest Hills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Forest Hills 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.
Forest Hills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Forest Hills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Forest Hills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Forest Hills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Forest Hills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Forest Hills 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.