Auburn Hills, Michigan

Area Profile

25,105 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Auburn Hills, in Oakland County.

70out of 100
Area Score
Top 19% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 35% of 3,904 cities measured63
Schools2157th of 2,668 cities measured27
GrowthTop 11% of 2,973 cities measured74
Housing affordabilityTop 24% of 4,223 cities measured93
Climate3516th of 4,223 cities measured61
Physical resilienceTop 5% of 4,182 cities measured94
Access3055th of 4,226 cities measured84
Economic stabilityTop 43% of 4,226 cities measured64
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.9% and median household income $84,375, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 148 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 3600% on the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Auburn Hills in the top 5% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
25,105
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$84,375
Top 30% nationally
Density
1,509/sq mi
16.6 sq mi of land
Median age
36.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Oakland County
Michigan
Metro area
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
Nearest major airport
DTW
32 mi · Detroit Metro Wayne County
Median home value
$245,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 28% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 1.2% over the past year, to 14,681 employed residents.

50% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 88% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$8,211$84,375Top 30%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,845$49,513Top 18%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.1%Top 50%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.9 minBottom 35%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher49.6%Top 12%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment14,681Bottom 14%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.8%Top 36%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.2%Top 11%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force15,440Bottom 14%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation69.9%Top 18%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$69,210Top 48%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$52,080Top 44%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.6%Top 21%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 28%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.82.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.9% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202484k74k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $84,375 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators55,100$49,240
Retail Salespersons48,610$35,130
Home Health and Personal Care Aides46,480$35,120
Registered Nurses44,310$97,280
Fast Food and Counter Workers42,430$29,590
Cashiers37,910$30,090

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

24% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 31% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.6 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
23.6%
Bottom 32% in Michigan
Reading proficiency
31.0%
Bottom 14% in Michigan
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Avondale High SchoolAvondale School District91117.5
Carpenter Elem SchoolLake Orion Community Schools46719.542%53%
R Grant Graham Elem SchoolAvondale School District39015.622%28%
Auburn Elementary SchoolAvondale School District33312.313%18%
Rogers SchoolPontiac City School District28021.59%14%
Avondale Learning CenterAvondale School District82.7

48.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Michigan’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 2% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,477 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.9 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
98.2

Prices here run about 2% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
21.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,477
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$245,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index98.2Bottom 37%of 3,6582023
Home price to income2.90Bottom 49%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate51.3%Bottom 10%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±50112,403Top 5%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$39$1,477Top 21%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,379$245,000Top 37%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.0%Top 35%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.2%Bottom 39%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
74/ 100
Top 11% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 7% since 2020, reaching 26,047 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

89% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 5.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
148
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.9
Top 25% nationally
Year over year
+3600%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
88.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202426k24k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420253144.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−92%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 17°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 29.2 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 45, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station PONTIAC OAKLAND CO INTL AP, 8.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index70.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation29.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low17°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index45.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing49°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
45
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
70
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

94 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, heat wave and strong wind.

TornadoModerate
Ice stormModerate
Strong windModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, inland flooding, hail, winter weather, earthquake, lightning, landslide, wildfire, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
328
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,925
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offences, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Auburn Hills's police department reported 328 violent offences per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,925.

Oakland County records 3.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 7.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 10.6 per 100,000 residents in Oakland County.

Homicide
3.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
7.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
10.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
9.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Offences are reported to the FBI by Auburn Hills’s own police department, for the population it serves, and are shown only where it reported every month of the year — a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police, which is not the same as what happened, and a place that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate. Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Oakland County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Auburn Hills rather than Auburn Hills itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 32 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Detroit Metro Wayne CountyDTW32 mi12,003 ft
Capital Region IntlLAN69 mi8,506 ft
Mbs IntlMBS73 mi8,002 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
70
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Other cities in Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
DetroitWayne County638,53052vs Auburn Hills
WarrenMacomb County137,92858vs Auburn Hills
Sterling HeightsMacomb County133,57366vs Auburn Hills
DearbornWayne County107,42357vs Auburn Hills
LivoniaWayne County93,85176vs Auburn Hills
TroyOakland County87,89877vs Auburn Hills
WestlandWayne County83,63358vs Auburn Hills
Farmington HillsOakland County83,51571vs Auburn Hills
Rochester HillsOakland County77,08975vs Auburn Hills
SouthfieldOakland County76,23662vs Auburn Hills
NoviOakland County66,71777vs Auburn Hills
PontiacOakland County62,10460vs Auburn Hills

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
safetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar yearAnnually, with monthly revisions
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Auburn Hills

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4832624,514$85,19069
4835910,401$93,12577