Is Detroit Michigan making a comeback? Are they facing a mass exodus? Here’s something the news headlines aren’t telling you.
Since 1957 Detroit Michigan’s population has been on the decline, coming from a population of 2 million people in 1950, to now inching its way up to just over 633,000 in 2024. The question is why? And why did there need to be a lawsuit for this to happen?
According to recent U.S census data, Detroit Michigan now ranks 26th most populous city in the United states, up three spots from 29th in 2023.
Detroit Michigan's Population
For over the last 6+ decades, Detroit has been on the decline, earning media headlines of people leaving the metro area in droves, and the city facing a mass exodus. It wasn’t until 2021, when Mayor Mike Duggan challenged the U.S census federal agency several times by suing the agency for falsifying the actual numbers of Detroit’s population, and according to the Detroit Free Press Duggan refers to the agency as a “national clown show”, but after constant battles, the city of Detroit got what it has been waiting decades for after implementing new developments and focusing on the Comeback of the city with every decision, and now Detroit has slid its way into the growing city category.
The U.S Census Messed It Up For Detroit Michigan
So how could the U.S census bureau mess this up? Well, since the city of Detroit has taken the initiative to rebuild, they based the data on all the demolition of the buildings, and assumed that it would be knocking the population, so essentially penalizing Detroit for the demolition it's been doing. The reality is, they demolished buildings that were unoccupied, uninhabitable and they sat for years and years before anyone even touched them. With that in mind, the city estimates that with each demolished structure, the U.S census bureau subtracted about 2 people from the overall population estimate.
Challenging The Estimates
When the city challenged the 2021 and 2022 population estimates, the agency responded that their data comes from a third party data program that uses administrative data to create estimates, according to one of the census bureau's spokespeople. Michigan’s population grew over 11,000 last year, even though they only stated the state grew by 1,800 people. And for countless years, Detroit was the leader in this massive population decline in Michigan, and finally in 2023, Detroit led Michigan in population gain which is pretty cool.
Michigan's Population is DROPPING?!
Is Michigan’s population dropping? Is the state facing a mass exodus like the headlines say? The reality is, the state of Michigan’s population grew by 3,980 people which was up 0.04% from 2022, coming in at a whopping 10,037,261 Michiganders, but still remains lower than during the pandemic. Kurt Metzger who is the founder of Data driven Detroit predicts that Detroit's population has been increasing for years, but they cautiously get dinged for the demolition. He’s thinking the population is 30 to 50,000 more people than the census gives the city credit for. Despite the NFL draft setting records for the most people in attendance in Detroit, mayor Mike Duggan says this news about a population increase is even bigger news for the city, as headlines will not be able to negatively impact the population, but they will try regardless I'm sure.
Detroit Michigan County Cap Rule
The next fight for the city of Detroit is to tackle the county cap rule, which determines numbers based on population estimates for all the towns and cities within a county by stating, “it cannot exceed the county's population estimate” even though the city of Detroit’s population is growing. So this cap is punishing the city of Detroit by reducing the cities population, not because there’s actually been a decrease, but because there’s been a population decrease in Wayne county as a whole or even because the agency can’t estimate that population right either.
So why is this population growth such a big deal?
Well, as I said, there have been billion dollar rehabs and developments that have been going on in the city for quite some time, and the city has felt they have never actually received credit for the rehab. Detroit is becoming more and more of a vibrant and growing city once again, you can throw a rock somewhere in Detroit and you’d probably hit someone on a ladder renovating a house, working on a development or doing something to spruce up the city of Detroit. I’m glad to hear the city of Detroit is finally getting the recognition it deserves after decades of throwing countless billions of dollars into the city that didn’t matter to the public eye because the media and agencies skewed their data that ended up creating a worse reputation for the city in the long run.
I have had a lot of people relocating from every corner of the globe asking me about Detroit and coming into town to purchase a home nearby, rent an apartment in the heart of the city and lean into everything this city is working so hard to create.
For those of you watching or that have seen the headlines about this recent news, did it surprise you, why or why not? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
If you’re looking to buy, sell or invest in the wonderful state of Michigan, don’t hesitate to reach out, I’m happy to be your go to resource.
Cheers,
Andrew
Andrew McManamon is a Michigan REALTOR® with Signature Sotheby’s International Realty and provides real estate services to Buyers, Sellers and Investors throughout SE Michigan including Livingston County, Oakland County, Washtenaw County, Genesee County & beyond. Andrew has become one of the pillars of Michigan real estate. Prior to his real estate career Andrew was responsible for managing a senior living facility in Brighton, Michigan as a dining supervisor and an activities assistant. Andrew’s passion to help people is unlike any other, and he continues to strive to be the best resource he can be. Andrew graduated from Cleary University in Howell, Michigan with a double major in business and marketing, and currently resides in Brighton, Michigan.
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