St. Clair Shores vs Sterling Heights

A side-by-side comparison of St. Clair Shores and Sterling Heights: population, income, housing, and more.

St. Clair Shores and Sterling Heights are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Sterling Heights has the higher population (133,473 vs 58,287 in St. Clair Shores). Sterling Heights has the higher median household income ($78,429 vs $72,693 in St. Clair Shores). Sterling Heights has the higher median home value ($260,700 vs $196,400 in St. Clair Shores).

Population, income & housing

	St. Clair Shores	Sterling Heights
Population	58,287	133,473
Median age	43.7 yrs	41.5 yrs
Median household income	$72,693	$78,429
Median home value	$196,400	$260,700
Median gross rent	$1,143	$1,267
Housing units	28,575	53,255
Homeownership rate	83.4%	76.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.4%	31.2%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	St. Clair Shores	Sterling Heights
Population	59,528 → 58,287 (-2.1%)	132,476 → 133,473 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$60,805 → $72,693 (+19.6%)	$64,833 → $78,429 (+21.0%)
Median home value	$135,800 → $196,400 (+44.6%)	$187,600 → $260,700 (+39.0%)
Median gross rent	$984 → $1,143 (+16.2%)	$1,025 → $1,267 (+23.6%)

St. Clair Shores

Population

59,52858,287

Median household income

$60,805$72,693

Median home value

$135,800$196,400

Median gross rent

$984$1,143

Sterling Heights

Population

132,476133,473

Median household income

$64,833$78,429

Median home value

$187,600$260,700

Median gross rent

$1,025$1,267

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	St. Clair Shores	Sterling Heights
Under 5	5.4%	5.2%
5 to 17	11.7%	14.6%
18 to 24	5.9%	8.3%
25 to 34	15.8%	14.8%
35 to 44	12.8%	10.8%
45 to 54	10.8%	13.7%
55 to 64	16.0%	14.3%
65 to 74	13.1%	10.7%
75 and over	8.6%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	St. Clair Shores	Sterling Heights
White (non-Hispanic)	88.2%	78.2%
Black or African American	5.0%	6.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.0%	8.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.1%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.6%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	St. Clair Shores	Sterling Heights
No high school diploma	4.9%	12.5%
High school graduate	28.9%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	36.8%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	19.4%	20.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.1%	10.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	St. Clair Shores	Sterling Heights
Drove alone	78.8%	74.7%
Carpooled	6.1%	9.3%
Public transit	0.6%	0.5%
Walked	0.9%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.4%
Worked from home	12.3%	13.8%
Other means	1.1%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	St. Clair Shores	Sterling Heights
1-unit, detached	81.8%	67.5%
1-unit, attached	5.2%	8.7%
2 to 4 units	2.6%	4.1%
5 to 19 units	7.1%	11.1%
20 or more units	2.9%	5.8%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	2.9%

Poverty & households

	St. Clair Shores	Sterling Heights
Poverty rate	7.7%	10.6%
Average household size	2.11	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	27	25
Median year structure built	1957	1977