Best PlacesRochester Hills, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rochester 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.
Rochester Hills ranks 264th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Rochester 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.
Rochester Hills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Rochester Hills ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of cities
- BikingBetter than 91% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 89% of cities
Where Rochester Hills ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 33% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 35% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 35% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rochester Hills
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rochester Hills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $130,365, 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 Rochester Hills' effective rate of 1.11%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rochester Hills
Rochester Hills runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rochester Hills.
Who works in Rochester Hills, and how
Work in Rochester Hills centers on manufacturing and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rochester Hills
Rochester Hills has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 95% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rochester Hills and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rochester Hills, month by month
Rochester Hills sees roughly 96 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 Rochester Hills
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 33 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 Rochester Hills
Schools across Rochester Hills average a B, better than 68% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Brewster Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Long Meadow Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Baldwin Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Avondale Gifted And Talented EducationA+ · 95% proficient
- Avondale Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Rochester Adams High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Van Hoosen Middle SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Stoney Creek High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rochester Hills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rochester 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 Rochester Hills against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Rochester Hills suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of cities and 24% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 57% of cities, health care access beats 95%, and it is quieter than 69%.
Common questions about living in Rochester Hills
Is Rochester Hills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rochester Hills ranks 264th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on health care access, a stable housing market, and an educated workforce, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rochester Hills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $404,897. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $130,365 median income, cost of living beats 85% of cities.
Is Rochester Hills safe?
Yes, Rochester Hills is safer than 84% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $231 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rochester Hills?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 23. That works out to about 96 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of cities.
Is Rochester Hills good for families?
Schools beat 68% of cities, crime safety beats 84%, and childcare runs $916 a month.
Compare Rochester Hills with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rochester Hills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rochester 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.
Rochester Hills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rochester Hills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rochester Hills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rochester Hills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rochester Hills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rochester 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.