About Basement Risk Check

An independent homeowner resource for metro Detroit, built on public data.

Basement Risk Check is an independent resource based in southeast Michigan. We built the Basement Risk Index, a 0–100 score that rates 1,100 neighborhoods and 116 communities across Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties on their exposure to basement water.

Why we built it

In June 2021, storms put tens of thousands of metro Detroit basements underwater in a single weekend and brought a federal disaster declaration to Wayne County. Talking to neighbors afterward, one thing kept coming up: almost no one knew their street had a history of flooding, even though the records existed the whole time. They were just scattered across census tables, city databases, and disaster filings that no ordinary homeowner would ever assemble.

So we assembled them. The goal is simple: let any metro Detroit homeowner see their neighborhood's basement-flood risk, and understand why, before the next storm instead of after.

How the Basement Risk Index works

The Index weighs each neighborhood's housing vintage and the region's soil and drainage characteristics against documented metro Detroit flood history. The largest single driver is housing age: sump pumps, exterior weeping tile, and backwater valves only became standard in homes built after the 1960s, and metro Detroit's heavy clay soil holds water against the older foundations that came before. We score every neighborhood relative to the rest of the metro, so the number tells you where you stand.

Higher scores reflect greater structural exposure. It is a model of relative risk built from history and regional factors, not a prediction for any individual property. The full formula and weightings are published on our methodology page, along with the public data sources behind every score.

Our standards

• Public records, cited. Every figure traces to public data, and our methodology is published in full.
• Independent. The scores reflect public data only, not any contractor, advertiser, or agency.
• Privacy-first. We do not sell or share personal information.
• Honest about limits. Suburban scores are modeled from housing data and labeled as such; nothing is overstated.

About this project

Basement Risk Check is a free, independent resource, currently a personal research project built from public data. The risk data is free for homeowners, journalists, and community resource pages to use and cite.