Rochester Hills, Mich.
Courtesy of the City of Rochester Hills
Rochester Hills is a bucolic place, known for safety, good schools, and a strong economy (just compare the local unemployment rate, 4.7%, to the countywide rate of 8.1%). Residents have easy access to Big Auto—Chrysler headquarters are in nearby Auburn Hills—academic, medical, and even robotics jobs. Home values, while still affordable, are appreciating at a good clip, with the median list price for a three-bedroom up 38% since 2012. The city lacks a real downtown. However, residents looking for a main drag packed with restaurants and shops can pop over to the small village of Rochester, which is almost entirely surrounded by Rochester Hills.