Notes from the State Demographer’s office.

Alan Leach, Demographic Analyst March 26, 2020

Today the U.S. Census Bureau released the vintage 2019 county and metropolitan population estimates. These estimates add 2019 to the estimate series and recalculate the previous estimates released since the most recent decennial census in 2010.

Trends in County Populations Since 2010

Since 2010 the populations of only thirteen counties in Michigan have grown by at least three percent. As the map displays, only two of these counties were not in southern Michigan, Grand Traverse and Kalkaska. The counties with the largest percent increase in population were Ottawa (10.6 percent), Kent (9.0 percent), and Grand Traverse (7.0 percent). These counties all experienced natural increase (i.e., more births than deaths), particularly Kent and Ottawa, and large gains in population through migration.

On the other hand, most of the thirty counties experiencing population declines of at least 3 percent were in the Thumb area or Northern Michigan. Exceptions were Wayne and Genesee counties, which experienced losses of population due to migration. By percent, the three counties with the sharpest downturns in population were all in the western Upper Peninsula. The populations of Ontonagon, Gogebic, and Baraga counties were reduced by 15.6, 14.9, and 7.4 percent from 2010–2019, respectively. These counties have all had long-term negative natural change and net out-migration.

Population Change in Michigan’s Metropolitan Areas

As indicated in the table, the Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and Kalamazoo regions experienced the largest population expansion since 2010 among Michigan metro areas. These areas all had two things in common: positive natural population change and positive net migration. Whereas the Detroit metro area is still by far the largest metropolitan area in the state, it experienced a very modest 0.5 percent growth in population. While this metro area saw more births than deaths, on net it suffered about a 61,000-person population loss due to migration, which limited overall population growth.

Metro areas suffering the sharpest percentage decline in their population base were the Saginaw, Bay City, and Flint regions. Although the Saginaw and Flint metro areas had small natural increases, their net negative migration overwhelmed these gains. Bay City had both negative natural population change and net out-migration.

For more Information
These estimates are available through the U.S. Census Bureau and are available on their population estimates page. Data on a wide variety of topics are also linked directly from our website, www.milmi.org/population.

As always, we are here to assist you with your demographic data needs. I can be reached at leacha1@michigan.gov. Eric A. Guthrie, Michigan’s State Demographer, can be contacted at guthriee@michigan.gov or 517-241-8667.