Best PlacesSt. Clair Shores, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Clair Shores, 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.
St. Clair Shores ranks 1,577th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in St. Clair Shores
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.
St. Clair Shores' strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Clair Shores ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of cities
- TransitBetter than 83% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 78% of cities
Where St. Clair Shores ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of cities
- School gradeC−, better than only 14% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in St. Clair Shores
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Clair Shores home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,641, 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 St. Clair Shores' effective rate of 1.46%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in St. Clair Shores
St. Clair Shores 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 St. Clair Shores.
Who works in St. Clair Shores, and how
Work in St. Clair Shores 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 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in St. Clair Shores
St. Clair Shores has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of St. Clair Shores and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Clair Shores, month by month
St. Clair Shores sees roughly 76 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 St. Clair Shores
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 30 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 St. Clair Shores
Schools across St. Clair Shores average a C−, better than 14% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Princeton Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Ardmore Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Greenwood Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jefferson Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Kennedy Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
- Middle School SouthC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Lakeview High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Lake Shore High SchoolC · 30% proficient
- High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Clair Shores school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Clair Shores 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 St. Clair Shores against the other 2,097 cities.
Who St. Clair Shores suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in St. Clair Shores
Is St. Clair Shores a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Clair Shores ranks 1,577th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, health care access, and transit, and lowest on a weak job market 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 St. Clair Shores expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,255. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $75,641 median income, cost of living beats 37% of cities.
Is St. Clair Shores safe?
St. Clair Shores is safer than 31% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $389 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in St. Clair Shores?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 21. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of cities.
Is St. Clair Shores good for families?
Schools beat 14% of cities, crime safety beats 31%, and childcare runs $860 a month.
Compare St. Clair Shores with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Clair Shores. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Clair Shores 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.
St. Clair Shores detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Clair Shores: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Clair Shores: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Clair Shores: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Clair Shores: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Clair Shores 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.