Suburbs vs. City: Mental Distress and Loneliness From Franklin to Detroit

Are people in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Franklin less distressed or lonely than people in Pontiac and Detroit, and is depression really lower in the suburbs? The CDC's PLACES project estimates these measures for every county, town and census tract in the country. This study compares Franklin, where the practice's office is, nine of the towns listed on the areas served page, and two nearby cities.

What the numbers show

Frequent mental distress means adults who said their mental health (including stress, depression and problems with emotions) was not good on 14 or more of the past 30 days. In every one of the 10 suburban places, the estimate and its whole 95% interval sit below the intervals for both Pontiac and Detroit. Detroit's rate is about 1.8 times Birmingham's.

Depression here counts adults who have ever been told by a doctor, nurse or other health professional that they have a depressive disorder. On this measure the suburbs and the cities look alike: Royal Oak (22.7%) and Detroit (22.9%) are 0.2 points apart, and Pontiac (21.8%) falls inside the suburban range. Because it counts diagnoses, this figure also reflects who has seen a health professional, not only who has felt depressed.

Loneliness (adults who said they always, usually or sometimes feel lonely) is common everywhere, from 26.4% to 34.7% in the suburbs and 37.7% in Pontiac. Franklin, Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Troy are clearly below the two cities. For Farmington Hills, Novi, Royal Oak and Southfield, the intervals overlap with the cities', so the difference may be smaller than it looks.

Lack of social and emotional support (adults who said they sometimes, rarely or never get the social and emotional support they need) shows the widest spread: 16.6% to 27.0% in the suburbs, against 30.1% in Pontiac and 32.9% in Detroit. Southfield (27.0%) is the one suburb whose interval reaches the cities'.

Age affects these measures, and the places differ in age mix. CDC also publishes age-adjusted rates, which remove that effect. With them, frequent mental distress in the suburbs runs from 13.7% to 17.5%, against 20.5% in Pontiac and 22.8% in Detroit: a smaller gap, in the same direction. Both versions are in the CSV.

What this means if you live in Oakland County

• Hard stretches are common in every town on this list. Even in the place with the lowest estimate, Bingham Farms at 10.9%, about 1 adult in 9 reported 14 or more poor mental health days in the past month.
• A quiet street does not mean no one is struggling. Diagnosed depression is about as common in Birmingham (20.8%) as in Pontiac (21.8%).
• Feeling lonely is not unusual, and it is not a personal failing: at least 26.4% of adults in each suburban place studied say they feel lonely at least sometimes.
• Support comes in many forms: friends, family, faith communities, support groups and professionals. If you want to talk with a psychologist, you can ask about an appointment in Franklin or by telehealth anywhere in Michigan.
• These are estimates for whole towns. They say nothing about how any one person, family or neighborhood is doing.

Method and sources

CDC's PLACES project (Local Data for Better Health) produces model-based estimates for every county, town and census tract in the U.S. It combines the 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System telephone survey with Census population counts and American Community Survey data, then applies the model to each place's population. This study uses the 2025 release (the latest), place and county files, retrieved on November 12, 2026. Figures on this page are crude prevalence: the share of all adults in the place. Every value was checked a second time against CDC's separate GIS-format tables.

The places are Franklin, the nine towns on the areas served page that are Census places, and Pontiac and Detroit as comparison cities. Measure wording follows CDC's definitions.

• CDC PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, Place Data, 2025 release: data.cdc.gov/d/eav7-hnsx
• CDC PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data, 2025 release: data.cdc.gov/d/swc5-untb
• CDC PLACES measure definitions, health status: www.cdc.gov/places/measure-definitions/health-status.html
• CDC PLACES measure definitions, health outcomes: www.cdc.gov/places/measure-definitions/health-outcomes.html
• CDC PLACES measure definitions, health-related social needs: www.cdc.gov/places/measure-definitions/health-related-social-needs.html
• CDC PLACES methodology: www.cdc.gov/places/methodology/index.html

Limits

• These are modeled estimates, not counts of residents. CDC's model predicts each place's rates from the age, sex, race and ethnicity, and education of the people who live there, plus county-level poverty and county effects. Differences between towns in the same county therefore mostly reflect who lives in them, not something measured in each town.
• CDC cautions against using PLACES estimates to evaluate local programs or policies. This page does not rank towns; it describes differences only where the 95% intervals do not overlap, and names the places where they do.
• The survey year is 2023. Depression counts lifetime diagnoses; distress covers the past 30 days; loneliness and support describe how people felt when surveyed.