The sustainability of sheep production systems may be at risk and must be evaluated in order to identify actions to improve their performance. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate the sustainability of sheep production units in the highlands area of the state of Michoacán, Mexico. The method of sustainability indicators of agricultural holdings was used, through the scales: agroecological, socio-territorial and economic. 40 indicators were evaluated through a semi-structured survey in 108 production units. The indicators of each sheep production unit were concentrated in a database and scores were obtained according to the method guide. In order to group sheep production units with similar characteristics, a multivariate cluster analysis was carried out using the hierarchical method. Significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were found in the three scales evaluated with: 42.3; 47.7 and 50.0% sustainability units respectively. The main limitation of sustainability was the agroecological scale, in the space organization component. Four clusters of sheep production units with different characteristics were obtained. The sheep production units in the area have not reached a state of acceptable sustainability. The limited land area puts its permanence at risk. These production units manage to generate economic resources and support family self-sufficiency, which has allowed them to remain over time, due to the diversity of the agricultural species they manage.