On Tuesday, Dec. 4, the Detroit Regional Chamber released its annual State of the Region report detailing the economic activity in the metro Detroit area.
The 2018-2019 State of the Region report found that Detroit is performing on par with the rest of the nation in several categories including per capita income growth and private sector job growth. However, one signal of Detroit’s resurgence is evidence of a growing population in the metro region.
After several years of population decline, metro Detroit grew by 0.3 percent between 2013 and 2017, with an influx of 7,000 new residents in 2017. Although to many this may appear to be marginal growth, Detroit outperformed regional peer cities like Chicago, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh which all experienced population decline within the five-year period.
According to the report, Detroit’s regional population growth may be partially attributed to millennials and foreign-born residents moving to the area.
Between 2013 and 2017, metro Detroit saw the second highest growth among peer cities for populations between the ages of 24 and 35, with positive growth of 9.7 percent. Although Detroit trailed Seattle’s millennial growth of 13.5 percent, it outpaced the national average of 5.5 percent.
Similarly, metro Detroit saw a 10.7 percent growth in foreign-born populations within a five-year period — compared to the national rate of 7.7 percent. In 2017 alone, Detroit’s regional population of foreign-born residents grew 6.1 percent, bringing the total population of foreign-born residents to 442,980.