Detroit sees population growth for the first time in decades

Outside of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, there is perhaps no more quintessentially American city in this country than Detroit, Michigan — a metropolis that punches well above its weight class in earning an almost mythological spot in the national zeitgeist. It has birthed uniquely American genres of music and become a synecdoche for one of the country's more important industries. 

At the same time, the past half-century has been challenging for Detroit. The city has lost residents every single year for 66 years. It's been such a precipitous decline that between 1950 and 2010, Detroit's population shrank by a staggering 61%, dropping it from fourth to 27th largest city in the nation. For decades now, the city dubbed the "engine of America" has been in sore need of a tune-up — until now.

This month, Mayor Mike Duggan announced that the U.S. Census Bureau estimated his city had grown by nearly 2,000 residents between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023, and had moved up from 29th to 26th most populous city in the country over that same period. According to the bureau, Detroit's population is 633,218. Although he insists he's "known for some time that Detroit's population has been growing" the government's projection marks "the first time the U.S. Census Bureau has confirmed it in its official estimate," Duggan said in a statement. So is this the historic turnaround the "engine of America" has been working toward?

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'Meaningful' symbolism

Detroit's growth follows "decades of painful decline," The New York Times said. Even though the gain itself was "slight," the symbolism of its population boomlette "was meaningful in a city that had hollowed out, year after year, since the days when more than 1.8 million people lived there." The growth is part of a broader trend among "many big cities in the Midwest and Northeast after previous pandemic-era declines."

Detroit is experiencing the "continuation of slow and steady progress and confidence in the city," The Associated Press said. That progress included this year's NFL Draft which set a "new attendance record after more than 775,000 fans flooded" the city for the three-day event. It also comes amid a long — and occasionally acrimonious — fight between Mayor Duggan and the Census Bureau, which Duggan had once labeled a "'national clown show' for previously reporting a decrease in the city's population estimates," the Detroit Free Press said. In part, the fight between Duggan and the Bureau has centered around how the city handles demolitions. According to a recent lawsuit filed by Detroit, for "each demolished structure, the agency subtracts about two residents from its population estimate." But typically, the demolished buildings have been "unoccupied and uninhabitable for years in many cases," said Kurt Metzger, founder of Data Driven Detroit. "Just because we're demolishing, does not mean we should lose population."

Conversely, the Census Bureau has been accused of ignoring Detroit families that have "renovated and moved into more than 6,000 formerly abandoned houses" between 2021 and 2022 — an "extraordinary policy success for the city" Duggan said in a letter to the Bureau in late 2023. 

Looking ahead

Duggan and Detroit's ongoing battle with the Census Bureau has been more than a question of civic pride. Should the city win its most recent suit, the "effects could be profound," with "Detroit and other cities [possibly getting] millions more dollars each year" from the federal government, Outlier Media said. It would also be a "narrative-shifting event," given Duggan's 2014 challenge to the city that his mayorship should be judged on whether the population has decreased or increased. It's a gauntlet Duggan hasn't forgotten. Growing the city has taken "10 years, but we're here," Duggan said to The Detroit News. "This is a day of celebration."

Insisting "we've known" internally that Detroit has been growing," it has nevertheless been "helpful to our national brand to get the Census Bureau to classify us as growing," said Duggan to the Free Press. Looking ahead, Detroit's growing population is "going to accelerate," Metzger predicted to The Detroit News. "2024 numbers are going to show much higher growth. It's going to accelerate for the next few years."