Garden, MI

The affordability dashboard for Garden, MI aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 802 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (46/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $51,429, median home value of $177,100, median rent of $645 per month, and 26.4% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $973 per month (studio $714, 1BR $742, 3BR $1,288, 4BR $1,632). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $7,470 per year, consuming 15% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are income, commute. Unemployment currently reads 6.0% and poverty 12.3% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.