Best PlacesLafayette Park, Detroit, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lafayette Park, Detroit, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lafayette Park, Detroit ranks 3,453rd of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lafayette Park, Detroit
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.
Lafayette Park, Detroit's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lafayette Park, Detroit ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$834 a month, better than 86% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 83% of neighborhoods
Where Lafayette Park, Detroit ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Lafayette Park, Detroit
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lafayette Park, Detroit home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $55,719, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Lafayette Park, Detroit's effective rate of 0.81%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lafayette Park, Detroit
Lafayette Park, Detroit 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 Lafayette Park, Detroit.
Who works in Lafayette Park, Detroit, and how
Work in Lafayette Park, Detroit centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Lafayette Park, Detroit
Lafayette Park, Detroit has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of neighborhoods and more parkland per resident than 86% of neighborhoods. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lafayette Park, Detroit and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lafayette Park, Detroit, month by month
Lafayette Park, Detroit sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Lafayette Park, Detroit
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 19 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 Lafayette Park, Detroit
Schools across Lafayette Park, Detroit average a C−, better than 35% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Chrysler Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Spain Elementarymiddle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Bunche Preparatory AcademyF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Cass Technical High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Martin Luther King Jr Senior High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Crockett Midtown High School Of Science And MedicineF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lafayette Park, Detroit school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lafayette Park, Detroit 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 Lafayette Park, Detroit against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Lafayette Park, Detroit
Is Lafayette Park, Detroit a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lafayette Park, Detroit ranks 3,453rd of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and affordable childcare, and lowest on car insurance costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lafayette Park, Detroit expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $258,981. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $55,719 median income, cost of living beats 43% of neighborhoods.
Is Lafayette Park, Detroit safe?
Lafayette Park, Detroit is safer than 12% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $896 per resident a year.
Compare Lafayette Park, Detroit with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lafayette Park, Detroit. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lafayette Park, Detroit 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.
Lafayette Park, Detroit detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lafayette Park, Detroit: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lafayette Park, Detroit: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lafayette Park, Detroit: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lafayette Park, Detroit: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lafayette Park, Detroit 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.