A Michigan snapshot
State lags behind nation in population, but sharp rise in minorities adds to diversity
BY AMBER HUNT, MARISOL BELLO and VICTORIA TURK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
August 15, 2006
Michigan's population increased slightly from 2000 to 2005, despite fears that the struggling economy would fuel an exodus of jobs and people -- but its growth hasn't kept pace with the rest of the country's.
That's according to figures released today as part of the American Community Survey, an annual snapshot of the country and selected communities. Compared with similar figures from 2000, the state's population rose only about 2% -- to 9.68 million.
The new survey paints metro Detroit, especially its suburbs, as more diverse and more educated. But the number of college graduates in the state still trails the national average. And Michigan lags behind most other states in drawing newcomers from out of state.
In metro Detroit, Macomb County had the biggest increase of new residents, with a 5% rise in the 5-year span; Oakland County followed with a 2% gain. But Wayne County lost an estimated 3% of its population. Detroit's population continued to slide, dropping an estimated 7%. The city lost 7% of its black population and 14% of its white population in the 5-year span, underscoring its fall last year from the ranks of the nation's 10 biggest cities.
Unlike past ACS reports, today's includes numbers for places with 65,000-plus populations, allowing a glimpse at trends in southeast Michigan. And the numbers, when compared with 2000 census data, indicate what a lot of metro Detroiters suspect: Many suburbs gained not only population but diversity:
Macomb County's black population grew an estimated 140% in the last five years. It also had big percentage increases of Asians (37%) and Latinos (29%).
Dearborn, Livonia, Sterling Heights, Troy, Warren and Westland all had triple-digit increases in their black populations, ranging from 105% to 227%. In most cases the actual numbers are small, but they nevertheless show the shifting demographics.
Michigan had a 26% increase in its Asian population, the biggest jump of any immigrant group statewide. Locally, Canton (100%) and Dearborn (61%) had the biggest increases of Asians. Canton also had the only double-digit overall population increase of the surveyed Michigan cities, up 19%.
Some of the communities with double- and triple-digit increases in black residents historically were known for racial tension.
Consider Dearborn, where former Mayor Orville Hubbard infamously excluded blacks and often referred to them in derogatory terms. When compared with 2000 U.S. census data, the new study shows a 227% rise in the number of African Americans living in Dearborn, from 1,178 to 3,850 people.
And Sterling Heights saw an estimated 214% increase in its black population -- from 1,387 to 4,349 people.
Mia Redd, a 32-year-old Blue Shield phone representative and former Sterling Heights resident, has noticed the change.
"When my son was in elementary school, there were only eight black kids," Redd, who is black, said Monday on her lunch break at Lakeside Mall. But nowadays Redd, who has since moved to Clinton Township, said she sees more minorities throughout Macomb County.
When compared with the 2000 census, the 2005 survey numbers back up Redd's observations: Macomb County had the biggest increases of black, Asian and Latino populations in the tri-county area.
About the survey
The data the Census Bureau released today are different from that obtained in the long-form questionnaire that went to about 1 in 6 addresses in the 2000 census. The annual American Community Survey will replace the census and track changes in demographic, socioeconomic and housing data more frequently.
The ACS was designed to provide more frequent updates to help governments and other agencies plan and allocate resources. It will replace the 10-year census by 2010.
The new numbers show that only seven states -- including Ohio, Iowa and Pennsylvania -- had smaller population gains than Michigan. North Dakota and the District of Columbia lost residents.
The Michigan population rose at roughly half the pace of the nation overall, which grew at roughly 1% a year, said Kurt Metzger, director of research for the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. The slower rate of deaths than births in the state contributed, he said.
From 1990 to 2000, Michigan's population grew by 6.9%, but the nation as a whole grew by an average of 13.1%.
A significant difference from the 10-year census is that the ACS omits from its counts populations in group settings such as correctional facilities, military barracks and college and university housing.
And that likely skews some of the data in certain cities, such as Ann Arbor, where University of Michigan students living in dormitories weren't counted. As a result, the ACS numbers, when compared with the 10-year census, show a 13% drop.
But some communities, such as Southfield, suspect the ACS-census comparison isn't far from the truth. Although racial breakdown numbers weren't available for Southfield, Oakland County overall showed a trend of whites moving away and minorities moving in. The county had an estimated 3% drop in the white population and a 23% increase in the black population.
Nimrod Rosenthal, community relations director for Southfield, said most incoming residents he sees are young, professional blacks from Detroit.
The white population in Southfield is older. Young blacks -- especially single women, Rosenthal said -- are moving to Southfield for office jobs.
"There are so many offices here, so many businesses," he said. "We are a diverse city."
Wayne County's Westland had a similar swap in whites and blacks, with 17% fewer whites as its black population doubled from 5,500 to 11,500.
"Unfortunately, we see this here and across the country," Metzger said. "Whites and blacks don't live together, not because blacks don't want to. It's because whites don't want to. Oftentimes, as a community becomes a community of color, whites start to leave."
Canton had the biggest increase in overall population at 19%, with increases in whites, blacks and Asians.
In Troy in Oakland County, the population increased only 4%, from 80,959 to 83,958. But the city had a 173% increase in blacks and a 2% drop in whites. Jerry Johnson, 52, is one of the more than 3,100 black residents who moved to Troy over the past five years. He said he moved last year from West Bloomfield for Troy's city services, schools and quiet neighborhoods.
Though his 12-year-old daughter attends a private school in Southfield now, Johnson said he has thought about moving her into public schools and wanted a district where she would excel.
Troy resident Nikole Murphy, who is black, became a minority business owner two years ago when she bought Shore Optical in St. Clair Shores. She said she has had a warm reception but encounters awkward moments.
"I've had guys come in and ask, 'Who's the owner?' It gets kind of funny at times," said Murphy, 37. But, she added: "I was brought up -- people are people. People can't get past the color that God made you, then they're not worth dealing with in the first place."
In Dearborn and Detroit
Meanwhile, Dearborn officials welcomed the news that more than 2,500 blacks reportedly moved into the city. But they questioned the ACS-census comparison that indicated a 3% drop in overall population.
The city is projected to soon pass 100,000 residents, according to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which creates community profiles with population and demographic data. Dearborn tallied 97,374 residents in the 2000 census.
Mary Laundroche, director of the city's Department of Public Information, said the ACS's estimated drop might stem from the survey's lacking an estimate of the city's Hispanic population, which she said is growing.
Still, Willa Johnson, a black woman who moved to Dearborn in June, said she's clearly a minority there. She said she hasn't seen another minority in her nine-story apartment building.
"When I told my family I was moving here, they said, 'Why would you do that?' " said Johnson, 53.
She pointed to Hubbard's legacy -- which Laundroche said is no longer relevant.
"He died 24 years ago," Laundroche said. "That's a long time. ... Dearborn today is a welcoming community with residents from more than 80 different cultures."
Patricia Becker, executive director of the Southeast Michigan Census Council, agreed: "Dearborn is no longer the Dearborn of Orville Hubbard. People now can choose to move where they want to move."
And that apparently means moving away from Detroit.
The city has experienced a steady decline in population -- especially whites -- for decades. Detroit's population hit an all-time high in 1950, about 1.85 million residents. The following decade, the population had dipped by about 1.8 million. It has been steadily declining ever since.
Census figures released last summer showed Detroit had, for the first time in almost a century, slipped out of the top 10 cities in America based on population.
It dropped from 900,892 residents to 836,056, according to ACS data in 2000 and 2005.
"We're acutely aware of the loss as it relates to our schools and neighborhoods," said Matt Allen, press secretary for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
He said the estimated 14% drop in whites isn't surprising, referring to the "white flight" of the '60s and '70s. "But now we're experiencing the African-American population is dwindling."
The city has about 7% fewer blacks than it had in 2005, he said.
Kilpatrick has a plan in place to try to stem the flow and make the city competitive again, Allen said. Metzger, however, said blacks have been waiting a long time for the tide to change.
"A lot of people had hung on and hung on, and finally had enough," he said.
State lags behind nation in population, but sharp rise in minorities adds to diversity
BY AMBER HUNT, MARISOL BELLO and VICTORIA TURK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
August 15, 2006
Michigan's population increased slightly from 2000 to 2005, despite fears that the struggling economy would fuel an exodus of jobs and people -- but its growth hasn't kept pace with the rest of the country's.
That's according to figures released today as part of the American Community Survey, an annual snapshot of the country and selected communities. Compared with similar figures from 2000, the state's population rose only about 2% -- to 9.68 million.
The new survey paints metro Detroit, especially its suburbs, as more diverse and more educated. But the number of college graduates in the state still trails the national average. And Michigan lags behind most other states in drawing newcomers from out of state.
In metro Detroit, Macomb County had the biggest increase of new residents, with a 5% rise in the 5-year span; Oakland County followed with a 2% gain. But Wayne County lost an estimated 3% of its population. Detroit's population continued to slide, dropping an estimated 7%. The city lost 7% of its black population and 14% of its white population in the 5-year span, underscoring its fall last year from the ranks of the nation's 10 biggest cities.
Unlike past ACS reports, today's includes numbers for places with 65,000-plus populations, allowing a glimpse at trends in southeast Michigan. And the numbers, when compared with 2000 census data, indicate what a lot of metro Detroiters suspect: Many suburbs gained not only population but diversity:
Macomb County's black population grew an estimated 140% in the last five years. It also had big percentage increases of Asians (37%) and Latinos (29%).
Dearborn, Livonia, Sterling Heights, Troy, Warren and Westland all had triple-digit increases in their black populations, ranging from 105% to 227%. In most cases the actual numbers are small, but they nevertheless show the shifting demographics.
Michigan had a 26% increase in its Asian population, the biggest jump of any immigrant group statewide. Locally, Canton (100%) and Dearborn (61%) had the biggest increases of Asians. Canton also had the only double-digit overall population increase of the surveyed Michigan cities, up 19%.
Some of the communities with double- and triple-digit increases in black residents historically were known for racial tension.
Consider Dearborn, where former Mayor Orville Hubbard infamously excluded blacks and often referred to them in derogatory terms. When compared with 2000 U.S. census data, the new study shows a 227% rise in the number of African Americans living in Dearborn, from 1,178 to 3,850 people.
And Sterling Heights saw an estimated 214% increase in its black population -- from 1,387 to 4,349 people.
Mia Redd, a 32-year-old Blue Shield phone representative and former Sterling Heights resident, has noticed the change.
"When my son was in elementary school, there were only eight black kids," Redd, who is black, said Monday on her lunch break at Lakeside Mall. But nowadays Redd, who has since moved to Clinton Township, said she sees more minorities throughout Macomb County.
When compared with the 2000 census, the 2005 survey numbers back up Redd's observations: Macomb County had the biggest increases of black, Asian and Latino populations in the tri-county area.
About the survey
The data the Census Bureau released today are different from that obtained in the long-form questionnaire that went to about 1 in 6 addresses in the 2000 census. The annual American Community Survey will replace the census and track changes in demographic, socioeconomic and housing data more frequently.
The ACS was designed to provide more frequent updates to help governments and other agencies plan and allocate resources. It will replace the 10-year census by 2010.
The new numbers show that only seven states -- including Ohio, Iowa and Pennsylvania -- had smaller population gains than Michigan. North Dakota and the District of Columbia lost residents.
The Michigan population rose at roughly half the pace of the nation overall, which grew at roughly 1% a year, said Kurt Metzger, director of research for the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. The slower rate of deaths than births in the state contributed, he said.
From 1990 to 2000, Michigan's population grew by 6.9%, but the nation as a whole grew by an average of 13.1%.
A significant difference from the 10-year census is that the ACS omits from its counts populations in group settings such as correctional facilities, military barracks and college and university housing.
And that likely skews some of the data in certain cities, such as Ann Arbor, where University of Michigan students living in dormitories weren't counted. As a result, the ACS numbers, when compared with the 10-year census, show a 13% drop.
But some communities, such as Southfield, suspect the ACS-census comparison isn't far from the truth. Although racial breakdown numbers weren't available for Southfield, Oakland County overall showed a trend of whites moving away and minorities moving in. The county had an estimated 3% drop in the white population and a 23% increase in the black population.
Nimrod Rosenthal, community relations director for Southfield, said most incoming residents he sees are young, professional blacks from Detroit.
The white population in Southfield is older. Young blacks -- especially single women, Rosenthal said -- are moving to Southfield for office jobs.
"There are so many offices here, so many businesses," he said. "We are a diverse city."
Wayne County's Westland had a similar swap in whites and blacks, with 17% fewer whites as its black population doubled from 5,500 to 11,500.
"Unfortunately, we see this here and across the country," Metzger said. "Whites and blacks don't live together, not because blacks don't want to. It's because whites don't want to. Oftentimes, as a community becomes a community of color, whites start to leave."
Canton had the biggest increase in overall population at 19%, with increases in whites, blacks and Asians.
In Troy in Oakland County, the population increased only 4%, from 80,959 to 83,958. But the city had a 173% increase in blacks and a 2% drop in whites. Jerry Johnson, 52, is one of the more than 3,100 black residents who moved to Troy over the past five years. He said he moved last year from West Bloomfield for Troy's city services, schools and quiet neighborhoods.
Though his 12-year-old daughter attends a private school in Southfield now, Johnson said he has thought about moving her into public schools and wanted a district where she would excel.
Troy resident Nikole Murphy, who is black, became a minority business owner two years ago when she bought Shore Optical in St. Clair Shores. She said she has had a warm reception but encounters awkward moments.
"I've had guys come in and ask, 'Who's the owner?' It gets kind of funny at times," said Murphy, 37. But, she added: "I was brought up -- people are people. People can't get past the color that God made you, then they're not worth dealing with in the first place."
In Dearborn and Detroit
Meanwhile, Dearborn officials welcomed the news that more than 2,500 blacks reportedly moved into the city. But they questioned the ACS-census comparison that indicated a 3% drop in overall population.
The city is projected to soon pass 100,000 residents, according to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which creates community profiles with population and demographic data. Dearborn tallied 97,374 residents in the 2000 census.
Mary Laundroche, director of the city's Department of Public Information, said the ACS's estimated drop might stem from the survey's lacking an estimate of the city's Hispanic population, which she said is growing.
Still, Willa Johnson, a black woman who moved to Dearborn in June, said she's clearly a minority there. She said she hasn't seen another minority in her nine-story apartment building.
"When I told my family I was moving here, they said, 'Why would you do that?' " said Johnson, 53.
She pointed to Hubbard's legacy -- which Laundroche said is no longer relevant.
"He died 24 years ago," Laundroche said. "That's a long time. ... Dearborn today is a welcoming community with residents from more than 80 different cultures."
Patricia Becker, executive director of the Southeast Michigan Census Council, agreed: "Dearborn is no longer the Dearborn of Orville Hubbard. People now can choose to move where they want to move."
And that apparently means moving away from Detroit.
The city has experienced a steady decline in population -- especially whites -- for decades. Detroit's population hit an all-time high in 1950, about 1.85 million residents. The following decade, the population had dipped by about 1.8 million. It has been steadily declining ever since.
Census figures released last summer showed Detroit had, for the first time in almost a century, slipped out of the top 10 cities in America based on population.
It dropped from 900,892 residents to 836,056, according to ACS data in 2000 and 2005.
"We're acutely aware of the loss as it relates to our schools and neighborhoods," said Matt Allen, press secretary for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
He said the estimated 14% drop in whites isn't surprising, referring to the "white flight" of the '60s and '70s. "But now we're experiencing the African-American population is dwindling."
The city has about 7% fewer blacks than it had in 2005, he said.
Kilpatrick has a plan in place to try to stem the flow and make the city competitive again, Allen said. Metzger, however, said blacks have been waiting a long time for the tide to change.
"A lot of people had hung on and hung on, and finally had enough," he said.
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