Sterling Heights Michigan, a city that’s either the best-kept secret in the Detroit metro area or has a few quirks you might want to know about before committing. Sterling Heights is known for its mix of suburban charm, affordable housing, and plentiful amenities, but let’s be real: every city has its “fine print.” Whether it's the epic annual Sterlingfest, where the funnel cakes flow like water, or that traffic situation on Van Dyke road (affectionately called any cuss word imaginable by the locals), there’s a lot more to this place than you’d think. I’m going to dig into the fun, the unexpected, and the slightly offbeat truths that make Sterling Heights what it is. Let’s get to it.
Living In Sterling Heights Michigan
Sterling Heights Michigan
For those of you just tuning into Sterling Heights Michigan, we are talking about the 36.72 square mile city located in Macomb county that is home to right around 135,000 people. This city is smashed in between the business hub of Troy, Warren, Utica and Clinton Township.
You might be thinking, oh yeah I’ve heard of Sterling Heights before, it’s that place where that 35 foot yellow ring is along M-59 where over 100,000 vehicles travel this golden corridor daily and I can assure you, you can’t miss it. Anyway, Sterling Heights asked residents to officially name this golden ring, and it’s safe to say the jokes poured in more than traffic during rush hour. Get your mind out of the gutter......
Living In Sterling Heights Michigan
Sterling Heights Michigan Events + Things To Do
Outside of this golden ring, Sterling Heights is known for their events, parades and festivals from coffeehouse concerts, and Dodge park Thursdays, to recreational fun, Sterlingfest, markets, frights and Christmas shenanigans, the city does a good job of keeping the community involved, which is a nice aspect considering Sterling Heights doesn’t have a designated downtown space, but as a lot of residents will say, there’s nearby downtowns that will scratch that itch for you, as well as plentiful amenities along Hall Road. Despite it not having a small town feel, residents will also flock to Dodge Park where the Sterlingfest is held, where there’s a volleyball court, soccer field, walking trails, farmers markets, and the sterling heights amphitheater all while being conveniently located to the Clinton River to do some water activities. It’s an underrated area within Sterling heights because it is more city and densely populated, but there’s this nice chunk of green space to cater to you outdoor folks. More information about events in Sterling Heights Michigan HERE.
Living In Sterling Heights Michigan
Sterling Heights Michigan Amenities
Outside of the parks and recreational offerings, events, parades and festivals, there’s actually a nice chunk of amenities too as far as shopping, and restaurants, especially along Hall road where you can have any type of cuisine within a couple miles, and have the ability to go to Sam’s club, Costco, Home depot, target, kohls, Marshalls and Home Goods, Meijer and Lowe’s all right down that strip while having the lakeside mall right in the middle of all that too. Spend an afternoon in Sterling Heights and your wallet will be hurting, I promise you.
Living In Sterling Heights Michigan
Sterling Heights Michigan Traffic
On the other hand, Sterling heights is what I’ve called a “pass through town” in the past where a lot of the people are simply passing through the area to get from there A to B destination (and with all the amenities i’m sure you could’ve expected that), and with M-53 or Van Dyke avenue cutting right through the center north and south, it can get pretty backed up, and it can be the same on the northeastern side of the city on Hall road, but I want to make sure I do a better job of talking about traffic to give you a better perspective, because your opinion on traffic being someone in California is different than my opinion, so I want to go more in depth otherwise is sounds like all of metro Detroit is gridlocked day in and day out like LA, and that is not the truth, so I’ll throw a few scenarios at you during morning and evening rush hour on a Monday.
We have 4 people:
One commutes to the automation alley area in Troy, Michigan
Another commuter goes to the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan
Another commuter goes to FCA in Auburn Hills, Michigan
The last person has an office job in Southfield, Michigan
The Troy commuter leaves at 7:30 am from Sterling heights and gets there in 10-20 minutes. The way home would be 15 to 25 minutes. Our ren center friend who commutes to Detroit will have a 35 to 45 minute commute to the office and 40-50 minute commute back from the office. The Auburn Hills commuter to FCA will be 20 to 25 minutes to work and 25-40 minutes from work. Last but not least, our Southfield friend has a 25 to 45 minute commute to work, and around the same commute back give or take a few minutes. And since I am talking about commute, I wanted to feather in public transportation too. Sterling Heights has 2 main transportation methods and that's Smartbus that has 6 or so routes that I will link HERE, as well as the minibus and myride2 service HERE for people who are over the age of 55 and unable to drive and for residents with disabilities.
Living In Sterling Heights Michigan
Sterling Heights Michigan Schools
I want to switch gears to the schools within sterling heights. We have Utica community schools as well as Warren Consolidated schools.
Utica Community Schools
Utica community schools are ranked #1 best school districts in Macomb county according to niche.com, #39 of 507 best places to teach in Michigan, #40 of 517 districts with the best teachers in Michigan and #60 of 539 best school districts in Michigan. Utica community schools have earned an overall grade of an A- which factors in academics, teachers, club and activities, sports, resources and facilities, diversity, college prep, administration and food. The only thing keeping this grade from being better than an A- is the resources and facilities being at a C+. The school district does have programs, pathways for success and an athletics program, but the facilities aren’t as decked out as some other schools out there, and in this situation, you’d be getting better rated teachers for an athletics program that may not have all the bells and whistles.
Warren Consolidated Schools
Warren Consolidated schools on the other hand have earned an overall grade of a B- on niche.com factoring in all the same categories I mentioned earlier of course, and where this report card is slacking is in the clubs and activities, as well as resources and facilities department. Some other notable rankings about Warren consolidated schools is they are #21 of 522 most diverse districts in Michigan, #106 of 482 best school districts for athletes in Michigan and #224 of 517 districts with the best teachers in Michigan, and I will be sure to link more information for Utica Community Schools and Warren Consolidated Schools.
Living In Sterling Heights Michigan
Sterling Heights Michigan Property Taxes
Since we are talking about schools, if you’re someone that has been watching my videos week after week, you’d know it’s time to talk about property taxes, and as I mentioned time and time again it’s a boring conversation to have, but they are incredibly important to shed light on in Michigan as it can be the difference of you affording a home versus not. So with these two school districts comes two separate millage rates (the rate to calculate your property taxes). I will be sure to link the thick PDF of all the millage rates HERE so you can control F on your keyboard to see the rates in your areas of interest. Utica community schools have a millage rate of 37.8338 and Warren consolidated schools have a millage rate of 42.5602, so a little bit of a jump from school district to school district.
Sterling Heights Michigan Home Prices:
I also wanted to breakdown a scenario of a yearly property tax estimate with these millage rates but first, I wanted to bring up this graph provided by the multiple listing service, which shows the entire MLS in blue and sterling heights in green. This is one of the few areas around metro Detroit where the average sale price rides right along the average in the state for the past 3 years coming in at just over $313,000, which was an 8.1% increase over the course of 12 months.
Sterling Heights Michigan Property Tax Example:
So when we circle this back to property taxes, for a higher estimate, we would take 50% of $313,000 to keep the math easy, which would come out to be $156,500, multiply that by Utica’s millage rate of 37.8338 that I mentioned earlier and divide that total by 1,000 and you get an estimated annual property tax amount of $5,920.98, which again is a high estimate, I would rather have people overestimate than underestimate to where in a year or so when the taxes uncap you get a notification of an escrow shortage that slaps you in the face. Then to give you an estimate of Warren schools now, take that same $156,500 and multiply it by their millage rate of 42.5602, total it up and divide by 1,000 and we get $6,660.67, which is almost a $740 difference to pay every year between the school districts for being in the same city, so be sure to keep this in mind when you are buying a home in Sterling Heights.
Living In Sterling Heights Michigan
Sterling Heights Michigan Summary
So if we take a step back at a bird’s eye view at Sterling Heights Michigan, we can say that the amenities are plentiful, there’s a nice little dose of parks and recreation despite it being a pretty populated city, it’s home to the #1 school district in Macomb county, the home prices fall along the average for the state and aren’t blown too far out of proportion but they have increased to say the least. There’s a nice chunk of events, parades, and festivals to bring the community together despite not having a designated downtown to do so.
On the other side of the tracks, we have the traffic and congestion that is complained about, but based on my commute scenarios I mentioned earlier that may not be a huge dealbreaker for you. In terms of commuting and jobs, the area is also a manufacturing hub for FCA, ford motor company, Mayco plastics, general dynamics land systems, key safety systems, US Farathane corporation, Milliken millwork and B.A.E systems among others, and is home to the global corporate headquarters of Jet's pizza. Some say the area has a heavy reliance on the automotive industry with limited employment sectors, and that can be cyclical. Residents put praise on the cleanliness of the city and safety, but are frustrated with traffic, and desire more unique retail and nightlife options, while noting it would be nice to have certain areas with more pedestrian access.
For those of you reading, is a community you’d live in, why or why not? And for those of you that live in the area, what are your thoughts?
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 reading, until next time.
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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