The Way I See It!

Detroit's Population Lowest Since 1910

Posted by Randy Hollenbeck on March 23, 2011

America

“Eleven years ago, the city of Detroit lifted the residency requirement for police officers and today, 53 percent of officers live outside of the city.  If we want the tax base of Milwaukee to resemble the tax base of Detroit, this is the way to go." — Tom Barrett

Detroit’s Population Lowest Since 1910 - Must be because the police officers left or is there more going on?

From the Detroit Free Press:

Census 2010: Detroit population plummets to 713,777, lowest since 1910

Detroit’s population plunged 25% in the past decade to 713,777, the lowest count since 1910, four years before Henry Ford offered $5 a day to autoworkers, sparking a boom that quadrupled Detroit’s size in the first half of the 20th Century.

Census figures released to the Free Press by a government source who asked not to be identified because the data has not been released publicly yet, show the city lost, on average, one resident every 22 minutes between 2001 and 2010.

The data also show that Wayne County’s population fell almost 12% to 1,820,584.  Oakland County grew almost 1% to 1,202,362, while Macomb grew the most, a 6.7% increase to 840,978.  Macomb is now more populous than Detroit for the first time.

Detroit’s political clout in the state also stands at a level not seen since 1880. Just 7.1% of Michiganders live in Detroit now, down from a peak of 32.4% in 1930. The city’s Lansing delegation will be smaller than Macomb County’s.

Gov. Rick Snyder said the figures underscore the importance of reforming the state and finding efficiencies in communities large and small.

“Michigan will not succeed if Detroit and other major cities don’t succeed,” Snyder said in a statement.  “We all must be partners in Michigan’s reinvention.”

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing plans a 4:15 p.m. news conference to speak about the numbers. He declined to comment before then, spokeswoman Karen Dumas said.

“There’s no doubt the challenges the auto industry faced the past four years had an impact on our population, in particular, the City of Detroit,” Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said.  “Now is not the time to look into the rearview mirror, but have vision for the future.”

Fueled by the implosion of the domestic auto industry, the Motor City’s 238,270-resident decline helped make Michigan the only state to experience a net population loss since 2000.  Overall, the state’s population fell by about 54,000 people, a 0.6% decline at a time when the nation’s population grew about 9.7%.

Michigan’s population in the decade peaked in 2006 and has been declining since, according to Census figures.

The Detroit City Council pledged to challenge the population figures, saying tens of thousands of residents were likely missed in the count last year.

"We can't take these numbers at face value," Councilman Ken Cockrel Jr. said.  "We have to challenge them."

A lot is at stake: Over the next decade, the city could lose tens of millions of federal dollars that are tied to the size of a city's population.

The city already is struggling with a $155-million deficit and faces the prospect of losing tens of millions of dollars in state-revenue sharing.

Council members said many residents ignored the census forms last year or were elusive because they are homeless, working two jobs or weary of strangers and government forms.

"There was a lack of participation" from residents, Councilman James Tate said. "We see apathy setting in with a lot of folks."

Detroit isn’t the only city in the region to lose residents.  Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Cincinnati also logged their smallest headcounts in at least 100 years.  Milwaukee and Toledo are at their lowest levels since 1940.

But on a percentage basis, Detroit’s loss was most acute in the region.  Detroit lost 25%, Cleveland lost 17% and Cincinnati lost 10%, according to Census figures.

Detroit’s percentage loss rivals the 29% drop in New Orleans, which was decimated by Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110322/NEWS06/110322036/Census-2010-Detroit-population-plummets-713-777-lowest-since-1910