The 10 Worst Places To Live In Michigan For 2023

The 10 Worst Places To Live In Michigan For 2023

Located in the southwest portion of the state, Dowagiac serves as the key community for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. Times are tough for the 5,731 residents of the community. A rough economy and weak schools make it one of the least appealing places in Michigan to put down roots.

Poverty runs rampant in town. In fact, 30.4% of the population has to struggle below the poverty line. This comes along with a 12.3% unemployment rate and a median income sits of $42,371.

Given the lack of funds, it’s not surprising that the educational system suffers. Schools in the area top out at 6/10 on Great Schools.

Still, Dowagiac holds much cultural significance. Check out the town’s Heddon Museum or its Dowagiac Area History Museum for examples.

Highland Park is entirely surrounded by Detroit, and it is so bad that Detroit’s government won’t even consider absorbing Highland Park into the larger city due to the fact that all of Detroit’s unflattering crime and unemployment statistics would instantly be made worse. If you live in Detroit and you’re passing through Highland Park, give a friendly wave and a smile. You need each other’s support right about now.

Highland Park ranks 1st in all of Michigan in unemployment, 2nd in overall crime, 10th from the bottom in adult drop out rates, and it has the 4th worst average income level in the state. In fact, the only thing saving Highland Park is a middle of the road population density, so there’s at least something to do while you look for a job.

Blame the unions. Blame free trade. Blame innovation. Whoever you want to pin the blame on for Detroit’s demise, you’d probably be correct.

Entire areas of Detroit have been demolished and turned back to nature. Crime is deplorable. Half of the murders in the whole state are within Detroit’s city limits. And the covid thing and the blm protests have made murders spike here even higher.

We know how bad the crime here is and how poor a lot of people are. It’s top five in the nation for both. And we hear about a Detroit renaissance happening. But man…

Here’s an interesting note: It’s estimated that up to 70% of the murders in Detroit are drug related. Okay, so that’s refreshing. Stay out of trouble, and your chances of dying here drop drastically.

BUT: Thank you to the people of Detroit for all of the work you did in building our first cars and other vehicles. Thanks to the people of this state for the huge part you played in World War 2! Much of our nation’s innovation and growth was due to the hard working people in the metro Detroit area a long time ago.

Who is our 7th worst city in Michigan?

Benton Harlem.

Benton Harlem?

That’s what everyone there calls it.

I think that’s really insensitive. Why is Benton HarBOR so bad? Things are not good here. This little inner city along the Lake Michigan shoreline has the 2nd highest unemployment rate and the 5th highest dropout rate. It’s also the 5th highest in the state for crime.

The unemployment rate here is insane and so many people are on welfare. There were riots here in 2003, and parts of this community still haven’t recovered. But they are making a comeback – they’ve cleaned up downtown, built a championship PGA golf course, some new trendy restaurants and breweries, shops, marinas and hotels.

There would be a temptation to put Pontiac on this list simply because the Silverdome, with its deflated roof and gutted interior, is one of the biggest eyesores in the state. It’s hard to think of it as the site where 93,000 fans once gathered to watch Wrestlemania III.

An eyesore that definitely landed Pontiac on this list of worst cities is the city’s unemployment rank, which was second from the bottom, incomes and home values in Michigan’s lowest 20 percent, and a crime rate in the top 20 percent. With statistics like that, we couldn’t keep Pontiac off this list even if the Silverdome’s ruins were made of actual silver.

The people of Pontiac are undoubtedly trying to pull themselves up from their bootstraps and could use a kind thought right about now.

Poor Pontiac – They’ve been neglected a lot. First, in the 60s, they covered over the Clinton River in concrete. That sucks. Then in 2002 the Lions moved from the Silverdome to downtown. Then the Silverdome got demolished. Then in 2009, Pontiac Motors shut down as did other car makers, leaving 20,000 people out of work. Then in 2011, Pontiac’s police department shut down. A year later, the fire department shuttered. Then a lot of the school closed.

I mean how much neglect can one city take my god my god.

They’re trying to make a comeback here. There was lots of discussion about how Pontiac is no longer under water financially, and how new businesses and developments are beginning here. So that’s fabulous!