Michigan Distress Index: county report
Michigan has 4 counties in the LeadCounty data. 4.2% of their 1,862,039 properties have unpaid property tax, compared with 3.0% across all counties we cover. The Michigan Distress Index is 64 out of 100, rank 5 of 19. Wayne County is highest at 5.3%. From official county records, refreshed weekly.
Summary in plain English
- 4.2% of properties in these Michigan counties have unpaid tax; the highest share is in Wayne County (Detroit), MI (5.3%).
- 18.3% of properties belong to absentee owners and 11.7% have been held 15 years or more.
- Michigan collects unpaid tax by this system: county tax foreclosure Redemption: The owner can pay until the foreclosure takes effect on March 31 of the foreclosure year; since 2020 (Rafaeli) former owners can claim leftover sale proceeds.
Michigan counties
| Rank | County | Index | Tax delinquent | Foreclosure | Code cases | Inherited (12 mo) | Absentee | Owned 15+ yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Macomb County (Warren), MI | 70 | 1.6% | 0.9% | n/a | n/a | 14.4% | 34.0% |
| 28 | Wayne County (Detroit), MI | 62 | 5.3% | 2.1% | 0.1% | n/a | 20.9% | 0.5% |
| – | Kent County (Grand Rapids), MI | – | <0.1% | <0.1% | 0.4% | n/a | 20.3% | n/a |
| – | Oakland County (Pontiac), MI | – | <0.1% | 0.1% | n/a | n/a | 15.8% | 15.1% |
Download these numbers as a free CSV Counts and shares only, no owner information. Free to use with a link to this page.
How the Distress Index is built
For each county we take four distress measures from its official records: the share of properties that are tax delinquent, in foreclosure, have an open code case, or received an inheritance deed in the last 12 months. Each measure is turned into a percentile among the counties that publish it (0 is the lowest share, 100 the highest). The index is the average of the percentiles a county has.
- A county is scored only if the tax-delinquent measure and at least one more are available. A record a county's offices do not publish is left out, never counted as zero.
- Shares use all properties in the county file as the base. Absentee owners, long-held properties and sales are shown for context and are not part of the index.
- Sales are shown only where a county publishes sale dates and prices. Counties that do not (for example Texas) show n/a.
- A state's index is the average of its scored counties, weighted by number of properties.
- The index compares the counties LeadCounty covers. It is not a national ranking and not investment advice.
Edition 1. Counts come from official county records and are refreshed weekly. Full method: methodology, editorial standards, data sources.
More Michigan resources
Questions
How distressed is property in Michigan?
In the 4 Michigan counties LeadCounty covers, 4.2% of properties have unpaid property tax, against 3.0% across all counties we cover. The Michigan Distress Index is 64 out of 100, rank 5 of 19 scored states.
Where do the Michigan numbers come from?
From the county offices named on our data sources page: the auditor or assessor for properties and owners, the treasurer or tax collector for unpaid tax, the recorder for deeds and the city or county for code cases. Counts are refreshed weekly.
Does this cover all of Michigan?
No. It covers only the 4 Michigan counties in the table. A statewide figure would need every county.
How we make these guides
Written by the LeadCounty editorial and data team from official county, court and state sources and our own weekly counts. We name the office behind every number, say what we cannot see, and fix mistakes when you tell us. See our editorial standards and methodology. General information, not legal or financial advice. Refreshed weekly.
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