Moross/Chandler Park (48224) Leads Detroit Yields at 16.2%, Triple the Premium Belt

Yields across 67 ZIP codes in Detroit (Wayne County) range from 16.2% in Moross/Chandler Park (48224) down to under 4% in the premium Grosse Pointe belt. That spread is wider than the gap between short-term rental and long-term rental at the city level, which means WHERE you buy matters more than HOW you rent it out. The pattern is the classic Detroit story: depressed entry prices in turnaround neighborhoods produce headline yields, while established suburbs trade income for stability and capital growth. This ranking shows which ZIP codes lead on gross yield and why the gap is so wide.

Moross/Chandler Park (48224) Tops the Yield Table at 16.2%

The five highest-yielding ZIP codes in Wayne County all sit inside Detroit city limits, where 3-bed houses still trade well under $196,500 (the county median) but rents have held up around the $970 to $1,150 range. The result is gross yields nearly double the county average of 7.8%.

Gross yields = annual income / sale price. Based on 3-bed house medians. The dashboard shows every property type and bedroom count.

The Top Three Lead Because Prices Collapsed Faster Than Rents

Moross/Chandler Park (48224) sits on Detroit's east side, a working-class belt where entry prices around $84,800 reflect the post-2008 reset that never fully reversed. Rents at $1,144 are anchored by genuine tenant demand: section 8 voucher holders, hospital workers commuting to the medical district, and the slow trickle of buyers priced out of Grosse Pointe. The yield works because the denominator (price) fell harder than the numerator (rent) ever did.

Warrendale/Cody Rouge (48228) on Detroit's far west side and Fitzgerald/Eight Mile (48238) on the near north side share the same dynamic. Both are dense single-family neighborhoods with bus access to downtown employment, and both saw foreclosure waves that flushed out owner-occupiers and brought in cash investors. Fitzgerald/Eight Mile (48238) sits closer to the New Center medical and university corridor, which gives it a slightly more durable rental pool. Warrendale/Cody Rouge (48228)'s yield of 15.9% comes from one of the lowest entry prices on this list at $80,000, but the trade-off is thinner appreciation history.

None of these top three are short-term rental plays. Detroit's tourism flow concentrates downtown, in Corktown and along the riverfront, not in the residential ZIPs that lead the yield table. At the citywide occupancy of 34%, short-term operations in these neighborhoods do not consistently beat the long-term rent. These are buy-and-hold, long-term tenant suburbs.

Cheaper Suburbs Yield More Because Rent Is Stickier Than Price

The inverse relationship between price and yield is starker in Detroit than almost any major US market. An investor entering at $84,800 in Moross/Chandler Park (48224) versus $196,500 at the county median faces a very different capital-risk profile. The cheap entry means smaller absolute losses if the market softens, but it also means thinner appreciation if it strengthens. Rent, meanwhile, has a floor set by what tenants can pay, which is why $1,000 to $1,200 monthly rents persist even where house prices sit below $90,000.

The county price range tells the same story. Houses in Wayne County trade from a low of $43,572 in the most distressed pockets up to $750,000 in the lakeshore premium suburbs. That is a 17-fold spread, far wider than the rental spread, which is why the yield range is so dramatic.

Premium Suburbs Trade Yield for Liquidity and Growth

For context, here is how some of Wayne County's most in-demand suburbs compare. These are established communities where investors typically accept lower yields in exchange for capital growth, owner-occupier liquidity, and lower vacancy risk.

High-demand suburbs for context. Same methodology as the yield ranking above.

These suburbs yield less on long-term rental because buyers are competing for school catchments, lakefront access, and walkable downtowns rather than for income. Short-term rental does shift the picture for a few of them: suburbs near the riverfront and Dearborn's auto-tourism corridor (Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village) can see short-term operations beat long-term rent at full occupancy, but the citywide average occupancy of 34% suggests the upside is uneven and concentrated in a few high-traffic ZIPs.

What the Yield Table Doesn't Show

A high yield is not automatically a good investment. The yield ratio is rent divided by price, and in Detroit's top-ranked ZIPs the high yield reflects depressed prices as much as it reflects strong rents. Capital growth is the missing variable: premium suburbs like Grosse Pointe and Dearborn have delivered steadier appreciation over the past decade, and total return (income plus growth) often favors them despite the lower yield. Vacancy risk is the other missing piece. The high-yield ZIPs in the top table can have thinner rental pools, longer vacancy gaps between tenants, and higher turnover costs than the medians suggest.

Property condition is the third gap. A house listed at $84,800 in Moross/Chandler Park (48224) may need substantial capital expenditure to meet rental code, and that cost does not appear in the yield calculation. The dashboard medians reflect transacted prices, not move-in-ready rental condition.

View Detroit in the dashboard → Free preview · every bedroom count and property type

Detroit's Yield Range Sits Well Above the National Median

Wayne County's median gross yield of 7.8% sits above the national median of 5.3%, and the top ZIP at 16.2% runs roughly triple the national figure. Even the premium suburbs in the second table generally clear the national median. The Detroit story is unusual in this respect: most major metros have a top-suburb yield that beats the national average and a bottom-suburb yield that trails it. In Detroit, almost the entire distribution sits above the national line. The trade-off, which the yield numbers cannot show, is that the Detroit market has carried a higher-than-average risk premium for two decades, which is precisely why prices have stayed depressed.

The Suburban Balance Question

The most defensible Detroit play sits between the extremes. Inner-ring ZIPs like Dearborn, Allen Park and parts of Redford offer entry prices well below the premium suburbs but with stronger rental demand and lower vacancy than the top-yield Detroit city ZIPs. The county's sample data shows Allen Park at $210,000 with $1,407 monthly rent and Dearborn at $247,000 with the same rent, both producing yields well above the national median while offering the liquidity and condition profile of established suburbs. These suburban ZIPs are also where short-term rental occupancy gets a lift from auto-industry business travel and museum tourism. The dashboard breaks each ZIP down by property type and bedroom count so you can find the specific configuration that fits your strategy.

Data reflects market conditions as of April 2026. Explore rental data in the dashboard for ZIP-level numbers, or review the data sources and market score methodology.

This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.