From the Nautical Mile, Lakefront parks and piers to the annual events and community, St. Clair Shores Michigan has it all, BUT WAIT there’s a few things your google searches aren’t telling you.
Living In St. Clair Shores Michigan
St. Clair Shores Michigan for those of you that don’t know, is located in Macomb County 15 or so miles north from Detroit hugging the eastern Metro Detroit coastline of the one and only Lake St. Clair. This city is 14.40 square miles in size, over 2.70 square miles of that being water with a population of right around 58,000 people. St. Clair Shores is categorized as a sparse suburban feel for having a medium to low population density and being outside of a larger metro area, but arguably since its over 5,000 people per square mile, i’d say it’s more dense than sparse, but I digress.
Not only do I want to spend some time outlining all the amazing things St. Clair Shores has to offer, I also want to touch on some of the not so good things too, as someone who has helped people move to the area and I have shown my fair share of houses there too, let’s jump into it.
St. Clair Shores Michigan Community
Kicking it off with one with the one thing that often surprises people until they see it in person and that’s the overall community and all the ingredients that make it up. For starters, we have the Nautical Mile which I mentioned earlier, which is located on Jefferson between 9 and 10 mile roads and it’s home to one of, if not the largest concentration of boats in the Midwest, with several full service marinas, waterfront parks and recreation, top notch restaurants, some on the waterfront, shopping, entertainment and attractions for all.
It’s really one of those places when I drove through for the first time thinking what the heck is all this?
Because as a Michigander if you go to cities just outside of Detroit some of them tend to lack offerings, because you can just drive a few minutes and take advantage of Detroit’s amenities, but that’s not the case here in St. Clair Shores, but it’s nice to have that luxury of being nearby. The Nautical Mile is just a cool stretch in itself, but then you throw some of St. Clair shores event son top of it like Music on the lake, Fireworks extravaganza, chamber concert series, the downtown social district which I have been to a few times where they shut down the street and have food trucks, music and the ability to walk around with drinks, as well as farmers markets, dog days of summer, as well as the pride march and memorial day parade.
St. Clair Shores Michigan Restaurants
On top of that, every time I visit there I have the ability to try a new restaurant because there are so many options available, so much so that back when i made the video about the Grosse Pointes (i’ll link the information at the bottom of this post for you if you haven’t see it I promise) they are very residential without a lot of offerings, so they tend to find options in St. Clair shores being as it’s a nearby community. You have places like Watermark Grill which I have been to several times, Zef’s dockside, Mike’s on the water, Waves, Short’s inn, Copper Penny, Waves, Brunch with me, Gilbert's Lodge, Charlies, Licavoili’s, hook, Baffin Brewing company, there’s just so many places I don’t have a time to rattle them off, but I will include the events page and a few places to check out in the description, and since getting ice cream is overwhelming since there’s a place every quarter mile it seems, Modern Cone is a family owned place that I go to every single time i’m in the area, I follow them on Instagram because I have to see what new concoction they are whipping up for me next time, it’s extravagant over there and I’m not even a huge sweets guy.
St. Clair Shores Michigan "Feel"
Despite St. Clair Shores having the events, the options, the parks, the waterfronts, my only complaint or caveat I wanted to make sure I brought up is St. Clair Shores doesn't really have that small town feel. The bulk of the offerings are along Jefferson avenue which is a 4 lane road, with a turning lane at times. The area is prepped for traffic and it gets just that. There are sidewalks on either side of the street, it’s very walkable don’t get me wrong, I just don’t want to give a false impression that this is a 2 lane jam packed storefront little beach town, the road is quicker than that being the main road to go along the coast, all the way north until you hit the Clinton river near anchor bay and all the way south until it turns into Lakeshore and goes through the Grosse Pointes. Despite it not being as much of a close knit small town as it may sound, St. Clair shores does their best to create that sense of community with their parks, marinas, and events, and honestly I bet some residents would call it close knit based solely on that.
St. Clair Shores Michigan Home Prices
With the community, easy access to Lake St. Clair and Detroit, Parks and recreation, and the Nautical Mile, another aspect that makes this city awesome is the affordable housing. I probably would have never stepped foot in this community if it weren’t for the affordable housing, as I have a lot of first time homebuyers and empty nesters looking for something cheaper but still in closer proximity to where all the action is and that’s exactly what St. Clair Shores is.
Just to nail that point home some more, here’s a graph from the MLS showing the average sale price over the last year with the entire MLS in blue and St. Clair Shores in Green, as you can see, St. Clair shores comes in at just over $239,000 while the entire MLS averages over $300,000. So this most definitely becomes an affordable area by today’s standards. Aside from down river communities, Detroit, communities south of I-696 and Pontiac, there’s not a lot of places in Metro Detroit where you can get homes for this price and if you do in other communities with higher average sale prices, they need quite the facelift which isn’t always possible for homebuyers in this price range. In the last year, there have been over 773 sales ranging from $75,000 to $3,200,000. So it’s safe to say St. Clair shores caters to a wide range of budgets, so if you’re someone with a larger one, there are some sizable homes with acreage and waterfront.
St. Clair Shores Michigan Home Example #1
I wanted to also give some visual examples as well (sorry for those listening instead), Here’s a home that sold for $250,000 that has 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, a 2 car garage, a finished basement, with around 2,000 total square feet, built in 1952 and situated on 0.15 acres. This is a home that could be moved in right away, you don’t need to throw new floors in, paint the whole place, redo bathrooms and the kitchen, as I know that is a huge problem these days in this price range, as buyers have to not only bid over asking price when it’s priced correctly but also needing to have a wad of cash in their pockets to do renovations before they even start living there, so this gives a breath of fresh air.
St. Clair Shores Michigan Home Example #2
The next home is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom ranch with just under 2,000 square feet, a 1 car garage, a partially finished basement and was built in 1940. Again, another well maintained home from the images, nothing that would need immediate attention and actually has space. As someone who is in the trenches with buyers in this budget everyday, we are seeing homes in pricier communities with no garage, no basement and the rooms could hardly fit a queen size bed, while the dresser needed to be in another room. That’s why St. Clair Shores should be a place to check out if the location makes sense for you.
What People Don't Know About St. Clair Shores Michigan
St. Clair Shores Michigan Homes
A couple notes good and bad about the housing in St. Clair shores. For starters, most of these homes are 1940’s to late 50’s brick ranches. As someone who helps people with new construction if you asked me if I wanted new or a 50’s ranch, I’d go 50’s ranch (assuming other aspects and utilities were updated of course) just because the construction was so much better back then than it is now, the phrase “they don’t build them like they used to” is one that fits into this situation right here because it’s true. These houses have stood the test of time and won.
St. Clair Shores Michigan Neighborhoods
On the other hand, most of these homes in neighborhoods are put on a very small piece of property, unless you have a privacy fence, you are getting real acquainted with your neighbors, but of course it depends on your budget but if we are talking average that will most likely be the case. These neighborhoods have houses spaced out by a driveway with a width of one car. Many of the homes have detached garages that are sat back behind the home, so you squeak past your house and your fence if you have one to get into your garage.
I have a brother who lives in St. Clair shores with this exact set up and he has a truck he’s beat up more than once just trying to maneuver his driveway while having to move his truck to let his wife get her car out, it’s just things people don’t think about, but if you get a decent house that has the space that may be a compromise you make just like they did.
St. Clair Shores Michigan Is A CLAY PIT!
Another thing that Google probably won’t give you answers to is St. Clair Shores is a clay pit, the ground, the soil is full of clay, which is nice for sculptures but it’s not nice when it rains because clay doesn’t soak up rain very well, so you’ll see wet spots, mushy lawns for days and days after a hard rain, and worst case scenario the water isn’t being redirected from the home correctly and you’re seeing wet basements, the need for sump pumps, and french drains to redirect the water away from the house. It’s not uncommon to see sellers' disclosures state they have had water in their basement because Clay soil swells when wet, and shrinks when dry, which can cause foundation movement and structural issues if not taken care of, BUT don’t let this scare you from buying a home in St. Clair Shores, just keep it in mind when looking at homes, walkaround the yard, look at the disclosures, see if they put any preventatives in place, etc.
St. Clair Shores Michigan Property Taxes
Another aspect to consider are the property taxes, which I shove down your throats in every single video when talking about communities because it’s important. Saint Clair Shores is served by 4 different public school districts: Lakeshore, Lakeview, L Anse Creuse and South Lake. The district you end up in determines your millage rate, which is the rate used to calculate your yearly property taxes. I have included a PDF for these in the description that is 176 pages long that you can “Control Find” on to quickly jump to the community of interest. Based on a home being your primary residence, Lakeshore has a millage rate of 48.5778, Lakeview is 49.0778, L Anse is 48.5778, and South lake is 50.7480.
The Equation:
50% of list of or offer price x millage rate / 1,000 (High Estimate)
State equalized value (SEV) x millage rate / 1,000 (Low Estimate)
You’d take that rate and multiply it by 50% of the list price and divide it by 1,000 for a high estimate or the state equalized value on the homes listing instead of 50% of the listing price which would be a low estimate.
Taking the average of these 4 rates, we get 49.2453, if you use an example from the areas average of $240,000 (I rounded up) it would be $120,000 multiplied by 49.2453 divided by 1,000 and that would be a yearly tax amount of $5,909.43, which is a lot, but as I mentioned in several property tax videos of mine, you’ll find areas with lower home prices will have higher rates.
There's Pros And Cons to Living In St. Clair Shores Michigan
As you can see there are pros and cons to living in St. Clair Shores just like there is any city across the globe. The city offers quite a bit, the homes are on the older side, the soil needs to be kept in mind, the property taxes are higher and this location may not be ideal for a lot of people as it’s not very central in Metro Detroit.
What are your thoughts about St. Clair Shores Michigan? Drop them in the comments below!
If you’re thinking about moving to Michigan in 1 day or a million, feel free to reach out anytime, I also have a link to the Living in Michigan newsletter below to give you insight on all things Michigan, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss out! Thanks for watching, until next time.
MENTIONED LINKS ⬇️
St. Clair Shores Michigan Events: https://www.scsmi.net/307/Events
St. Clair Shores Michigan Website: https://www.scsmi.net/
St. Clair Shores Social District: https://www.scsmi.net/999/Downtown-Social-District
Michigan Property Tax PDF: https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/-/media/Project/Websites/taxes/4029/Total-Rates-Reports/2023-Total-Rates-Report---Entire-State.pdf?
rev=86e73be2b0934c66a3a4be5ba8750b7e&hash=CC19126725BDCD54BAE035710BE9BD6C
Grosse Pointe Michigan Video: https://youtu.be/pakrkIjVMkE?si=XBn3_lRXqrCuZJwK
Cheers,
Andrew
Andrew McManamon is a Michigan REALTOR® with Signature Sotheby’s International Realty and provides real estate services to Buyers, Sellers and Investors throughout SE Michigan including Livingston County, Oakland County, Washtenaw County, Genesee County & beyond. Andrew has become one of the pillars of Michigan real estate. Prior to his real estate career Andrew was responsible for managing a senior living facility in Brighton, Michigan as a dining supervisor and an activities assistant. Andrew’s passion to help people is unlike any other, and he continues to strive to be the best resource he can be. Andrew graduated from Cleary University in Howell, Michigan with a double major in business and marketing, and currently resides in Brighton, Michigan.
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