Posted: 4/24/2025 11:09:12 PM EDT
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Son just got married and his wife wants to move upper peninsula from Detroit area - Dearborn is where she lives, son has an apartment in Canton. She wants to buy a house I did a cursory look and St Saint Marie looked to be the only crime place but Scout Neighborhood showed crime all over like Escanaba and the only good spot was Iron Mountain Checked Sperling Best places and different results Someone in GD mentioned Green Bay Wis had Milwaukee bleed over crime The housing prices in Marquette and a lot of upper Michigan were surprisingly expensive Not sure how realistic it is for them to try that and staying in Detroit area also seems unwise |
Deckard “nobody wants to know the truth, nobody” Cobra Kai Johnny Lawrence “she’s hot and all those other things” Tucker Carlson 1/10/2018 “I used to be a liberatarian until Google”https://mobile.twitter.com/Henry_Gunn
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Have they spent much time in the UP yet? Making the choice to live up there is something that should be done after experiencing a full winter/summer. Also if the wife has any desire for shopping/city life, your options are very limited. Marquette is growing, but unfortunately growing with tons of liberal transplants that are pricing locals out of the market. I wouldn't be the least bit worried about crime in the UP vs crime in metro Detroit. |
I live in the UP, to say there is no crime here would be a lie. With cities, come city crime, just not as big as Detroit. But not living in the cities means you have to commute, distance is your choice. I moved from a 270 acre farm in the thumb of MI to a 43 foot wide lot in the city of Iron Mountain. It was ok for 11 years. The drug problems started to show up. We bought property away from town but decided the commute was worth it, 22 miles. It took me 25 minutes to drive 22 miles, summer or winter, if it was snowing really hard, I had to slow down to 55. I had to clear snow from the driveway 4 times this winter, 3 times last. But some years it would be 3 or 4 times a week. In 20 years, I missed work 1 time for weather, ice. The road was too slippery for safe travel. They understood. There are 4 houses listed in my zip, priced from 135 to 180, yes, only 4, approx. 60 square miles. Property sizes are less than 5 acres to a lot in town (pop. 764). Probably, between here and work, there are listings north of $1M, closer to the city. Some people need access to all of the city items like shopping, eating, entertainment, I don't. We have driven an hour or 2 to eat at a certain restaurant or shop at certain stores. Look up Gary's Knotty Pine in Arnold MI. Some drives are worth it. If you can do your job in the UP, I recommend giving it a try. You can always move back to the city. Shit, we have lived in 13 different places in 52 years of marriage. 2 in the last 30 years. Edit: mistook a period for a comma, off by 1000x
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Team Ranstad
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Originally Posted By FZJ80: I’d look into west central LP. Mecosta/Osceola/Montcalm counties. The UP is cold AF. They train chemists how to make Meth at Michigan Tech with different formulae to avoid prosecution. West Central LP buys it from them or the Cartel. I say no way to the " New Way To Go " ( Newaygo city/county) where I'm at. I was just in Munising in February, lots of snow  eta- Her son's daughter's Aunt's just graduated from MITech one with a Cop degree, the other with the chemist degree, her Son is at Alger and wanted to see him a couple months ago .. 
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Originally Posted By KTangoMike: Have they spent much time in the UP yet? Making the choice to live up there is something that should be done after experiencing a full winter/summer. Also if the wife has any desire for shopping/city life, your options are very limited. Marquette is growing, but unfortunately growing with tons of liberal transplants that are pricing locals out of the market. I wouldn't be the least bit worried about crime in the UP vs crime in metro Detroit. Skiing trip is all I recall I’m fairly sure they haven’t stayed at UP for a full winter. She’s a school teacher |
Deckard “nobody wants to know the truth, nobody” Cobra Kai Johnny Lawrence “she’s hot and all those other things” Tucker Carlson 1/10/2018 “I used to be a liberatarian until Google”https://mobile.twitter.com/Henry_Gunn
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Originally Posted By FZJ80: I’d look into west central LP. Mecosta/Osceola/Montcalm counties. The UP is cold AF. My son now claims he hates the beach and sunny weather. He seems convinced skin cancer and moles on top of heat is his most hated reasons for places like Florida or California He claims he loves the cold Before he moved to date her his only experience with cold weather was living with family in NYC and Washington DC area and when I took him skiing to Lake Tahoe |
Deckard “nobody wants to know the truth, nobody” Cobra Kai Johnny Lawrence “she’s hot and all those other things” Tucker Carlson 1/10/2018 “I used to be a liberatarian until Google”https://mobile.twitter.com/Henry_Gunn
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Originally Posted By 243savage: What part of Canton is your boy in? I'm in Westland. I'm not concerned about crime, least major crime here. I’ll have to ask Now that they got married they’re looking for a place for both of them to live at instead of separate apartments |
Deckard “nobody wants to know the truth, nobody” Cobra Kai Johnny Lawrence “she’s hot and all those other things” Tucker Carlson 1/10/2018 “I used to be a liberatarian until Google”https://mobile.twitter.com/Henry_Gunn
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Originally Posted By fredshort: I live in the UP, to say there is no crime here would be a lie. With cities, come city crime, just not as big as Detroit. But not living in the cities means you have to commute, distance is your choice. I moved from a 270 acre farm in the thumb of MI to a 43 foot wide lot in the city of Iron Mountain. It was ok for 11 years. The drug problems started to show up. We bought property away from town but decided the commute was worth it, 22 miles. It took me 25 minutes to drive 22 miles, summer or winter, if it was snowing really hard, I had to slow down to 55. I had to clear snow from the driveway 4 times this winter, 3 times last. But some years it would be 3 or 4 times a week. In 20 years, I missed work 1 time for weather, ice. The road was too slippery for safe travel. They understood. There are 4 houses listed in my zip, priced from 135 to 180, yes, only 4, approx. 60,000 square miles. Property sizes are less than 5 acres to a lot in town (pop. 764). Probably, between here and work, there are listings north of $1M, closer to the city. Some people need access to all of the city items like shopping, eating, entertainment, I don't. We have driven an hour or 2 to eat at a certain restaurant or shop at certain stores. Look up Gary's Knotty Pine in Arnold MI. Some drives are worth it. If you can do your job in the UP, I recommend giving it a try. You can always move back to the city. Shit, we have lived in 13 different places in 52 years of marriage. 2 in the last 30 years. I did see a $100,000 house in Menominee {she’s a elementary school teacher, he a one of those online tech people so he works remote} but one website showed crime there to my surprise But seeing as they have limited $ I thought it was unrealistic for her to be house hunting right now until they get established. He’s in his 20s just out of college so neither make a lot or have much saved |
Deckard “nobody wants to know the truth, nobody” Cobra Kai Johnny Lawrence “she’s hot and all those other things” Tucker Carlson 1/10/2018 “I used to be a liberatarian until Google”https://mobile.twitter.com/Henry_Gunn
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The crime rate is amazingly low here, among the lowest in the nation. I used www.city-data.com to scout locations and they have crime data that is typically a couple of years old. Still useful for comparison purposes. I live a county with one traffic light and the biggest city is less than 3000 folks. The UP's population peaked 50-100 years ago and has been largely in decline since. The primary industries here was iron and copper ore mining and logging, both were mostly dead by the 1970s. When I bought the house I went to the closing and was waiting for that moment where I passed the check across the table and they passed the keys. Nope. No keys. Sorry but welcome to the UP of Michigan. The previous owner never locked the home so they don't have a set of keys to give you. They left the house unlocked and there's a pile of keys on the kitchen counter. Four years later and I still can't bring myself to leave the house unlocked while sleeping but we leave the home and shop unlocked otherwise. I leave the keys in the fleet of toys and tools without fear. Outside of the bank getting robbed a couple of years ago by an out-of-state crew there really isn't any crime. Yeah Carl beats his wife, the Smith brothers fight each other at the bar like they do at home and will throw punches at anyone who tries to stop them, and there's a lot of people getting busted for drinking Wisconsin "water" (beer) and driving. But I haven't heard about a single stranger-on-stranger crime like a rape or robbery. Marquette is an anomaly in that it's both a college and prison town so it has a population vastly different than the rest of the area. |
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Attached File The Huron Islands with the Keweenaw Peninsula in the back ground. ETA, bears may pose a bigger crime issue. |
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Originally Posted By heirmossy: Winter can be a bit harsh and long, but it's not that bad. Michigan Tech engineering grad long ago. Our Chem prof said it was lake effect moderation. ETA: But that was before Al Gore invented the internet and global warming. |
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Originally Posted By SecondAmend: Michigan Tech engineering grad long ago. Our Chem prof said it was lake effect moderation. ETA: But that was before Al Gore invented the internet and global warming. Originally Posted By SecondAmend: Originally Posted By heirmossy: Winter can be a bit harsh and long, but it's not that bad. Michigan Tech engineering grad long ago. Our Chem prof said it was lake effect moderation. ETA: But that was before Al Gore invented the internet and global warming. Haha! Good ol' delusional Al Gore. The lake does tend to moderate the temperature during early winter, but it significantly contributes to the annual snowfall totals. Of course, as it freezes over, lake effect snow noticeably diminishes. |
| I live near Lake Michigan. The lake is still warm early in the winter then the surface eventually freezes over. This warm and cool cycle screws with the weather. Sometimes snowfall is mild then dumps on the folks further east of us, or the opposite happens and we get the shit storm. |
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I went to school at LSSU from S MI. Met my wife from Ontonagon. I was amazed when first visiting her hometown her parents only locked the house if they left town for vacation. They left their car running at the grocery store in the winter so it would be warm when they returned. This was the days when in order to do that you left the keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked... My info of living there is a bit old, but it hasn't changed to much. I visit every summer. I would not hesitate to live there. That said make sure they are prepared for a long winter. If you can't find winter sports you like, it will be a long 5 months. |
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IMO best areas are Houghton and Iron Mountain but even Marquette area might be getting a little better now. Crime is low. Its either something domestic, something petty drug related, or some out of staters cruise through causing some BS. There has been an uptick in houses listed for sale which should help. |
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Originally Posted By RedFox1911: Oh it still snows in May. It snowed last Sunday. Originally Posted By RedFox1911: Originally Posted By SecondAmend: The thing that I remember about UP snow from my time at MTU was you'd step on snow on Halloween, and wouldn't see that footprint again until April Fool's Day. Oh it still snows in May. It snowed last Sunday. Yeah, but the difference is the Oct. 31st snow is on the ground for five months, not five hours as is the case of the May snow. |
| The UP is full of MS-13, Mexican Mafia, The Russian Mob and many other violent organized criminal gangs. The daily gun battles and bombings between them, the Aryan Nation, other white nationals and the Michigan Militia has us fearing for our lives. This place is far more violent than any third world shithole I’ve been deployed to. Yesterday I had three Aryan Nation members break into my house and start cooking meth. When the cops showed up the meth cookers raped their K9 in front of them and then tarred and feathered the Troopers and stripped them of their badges it was horrible to witness. Stay away from here life north of the bridge is hell. I can still hear that Malinois screaming in my head. |
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Originally Posted By metalmelter: The UP is full of MS-13, Mexican Mafia, The Russian Mob and many other violent organized criminal gangs. The daily gun battles and bombings between them, the Aryan Nation, other white nationals and the Michigan Militia has us fearing for our lives. This place is far more violent than any third world shithole I’ve been deployed to. Yesterday I had three Aryan Nation members break into my house and start cooking meth. When the cops showed up the meth cookers raped their K9 in front of them and then tarred and feathered the Troopers and stripped them of their badges it was horrible to witness. Stay away from here life north of the bridge is hell. I can still hear that Malinois screaming in my head. Last night the Watersmeet bloods street gang threw a graduation party where there were about 5,000 youths out on the beach and tearing up the town. A rival click of Caspian Crips showed up and all 9-cops that patrol the entire UP were called into action. Farm tractors were doing doughnuts in the street dragging their PTO hitch implements causing a crowd to gather to watch. There were fires set, cars overturned, a few businesses got looted and one of the sheriffs got hit with a brick. There were three cows tipped over in farmer Johansen's field. Dozens got arrested and peace wasn't restored until nearly dawn. The smoke still rises from the smothering ruins of the American Legion meeting hall.  |
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Dad's parents lived in Hancock, Mom's relatives also worked the copper mines although she grew up in Saginaw. Lot of summer vacations spent there. It's gotten way bigger due to the college and hospital growth it seems. Since my aunt passed away there in 2001 I haven't gone back up. Loved it as a kid, got less enthused as it grew and views were ruined and more people moved in. |
Joined:
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MI, USA
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Originally Posted By CarmelBytheSea: Son just got married and his wife wants to move upper peninsula from Detroit area - Dearborn is where she lives, son has an apartment in Canton. She wants to buy a house I did a cursory look and St Saint Marie looked to be the only crime place but Scout Neighborhood showed crime all over like Escanaba and the only good spot was Iron Mountain Checked Sperling Best places and different results Someone in GD mentioned Green Bay Wis had Milwaukee bleed over crime The housing prices in Marquette and a lot of upper Michigan were surprisingly expensive Not sure how realistic it is for them to try that and staying in Detroit area also seems unwise Check out the air quality index up here today (I'm on the border) |
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.
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Originally Posted By Paul: Last night the Watersmeet bloods street gang threw a graduation party where there were about 5,000 youths out on the beach and tearing up the town. A rival click of Caspian Crips showed up and all 9-cops that patrol the entire UP were called into action. Farm tractors were doing doughnuts in the street dragging their PTO hitch implements causing a crowd to gather to watch. There were fires set, cars overturned, a few businesses got looted and one of the sheriffs got hit with a brick. There were three cows tipped over in farmer Johansen's field. Dozens got arrested and peace wasn't restored until nearly dawn. The smoke still rises from the smothering ruins of the American Legion meeting hall. I think I ran into them on the second trip to Munising at 'da Barge Inn |
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Great resource--the site called: "CITY DATA." Punch in the town, village or county--get the scoop: employment, housing, crime, voting... Sample: Sault Ste. Marie, MI PS Check my post today about the U.P.--vids done by Peter Santenello. CHEERS! |
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I lived there and it's incredibly isolated. Certain types of criminals love that part, and the poverty allowed it to be contagious. Jobs are somewhat scarce, and showing up anywhere with nice cars, watch, guns, etc immediately made you a target for theft and ridicule. I was SWATed for not paying extortion to literal gypsies. That was downtown Escanaba. Avoid |
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Think of all the shit hole countries one this planet where some bigger country (typically Russia or the US) invaded in the past, and then just pulled out of. What happened? Undesirables moved in, taking advantage of the existing infrastructure and the people who were down on their luck in big ways. Warlords and criminals basically "stealing" the infrastructure to use as weapons, fortresses, etc against everyone else. The UP and other similar, previous titans of forgotten industries are just like that shit hole country. There are obviously exceptions, but to get to anything decent, like a hospital, university, prime office space (jobs), you would have to drive to the lower peninsula, or Green Bay, Milwaukee, Chicago, etc. |
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Originally Posted By MotorsAndMagazines: Think of all the shit hole countries one this planet where some bigger country (typically Russia or the US) invaded in the past, and then just pulled out of. What happened? Undesirables moved in, taking advantage of the existing infrastructure and the people who were down on their luck in big ways. Warlords and criminals basically "stealing" the infrastructure to use as weapons, fortresses, etc against everyone else. The UP and other similar, previous titans of forgotten industries are just like that shit hole country. There are obviously exceptions, but to get to anything decent, like a hospital, university, prime office space (jobs), you would have to drive to the lower peninsula, or Green Bay, Milwaukee, Chicago, etc. lol, a little dramatic eh. The UP isn't for everyone but the above isn't quite fair. |
