Best PlacesTroy, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Troy, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Troy ranks 49th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $123,522, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are a weak job market, car insurance costs, and walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Troy
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.
The best areas in Troy
The parts of Troy, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Rochester Road
More households have young kids, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Downtown Troy
More adults hold degrees and schools score higher.
The Smart Zone
Health outcomes score higher and biking is better.
Northfield
Tree cover is thicker, though homes cost more.
Automall
South John R Road
Transit reaches more jobs, though crime runs higher.
Southern Troy
Streets are more walkable, though it is noisier.
Scores across Troy run from about the 22nd to the 98th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Troy's strengths and weaknesses
Troy ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. A stable housing market is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Health care access and civic engagement follow.
The one real hole is a weak job market, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and walkability also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Troy ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of cities
Where Troy ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 21% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Troy
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Troy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $123,522, 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 Troy's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Troy
Troy runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Troy.
Who works in Troy, and how
Work in Troy centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Troy
Troy has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Troy and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Troy, month by month
Troy sees roughly 88 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 Troy
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 28 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 Troy
Schools across Troy average a B, better than 80% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Eastover Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Schroeder Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Bemis Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Boulan Park Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Baker Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Smith Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Troy High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Athens High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Royal Oak High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Troy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Troy 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 Troy against the other 444 cities.
Who Troy suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of cities and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Troy
Is Troy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Troy ranks 49th of 445 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, health care access, and civic engagement, 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 Troy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $377,624. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $123,522 median income, cost of living beats 92% of cities.
Is Troy safe?
Yes, Troy is safer than 87% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Troy?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 23. That works out to about 88 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Troy?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Rochester Road, Downtown Troy, and The Smart Zone. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Troy good for families?
Schools beat 80% of cities, crime safety beats 87%, and childcare runs $904 a month.
Is Troy good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 22% of cities. About 21% of workers already work from home.
Compare Troy with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Troy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Troy 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.
Troy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Troy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Troy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Troy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Troy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Troy 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.