When it comes to the newly released 2016 U.S. Census population estimates, two of three counties in the tri-county area saw minor population gains from 2015-2016 while Wayne County had the second largest population drop in the nation.
Oakland County gained 3,696 people in the last year. Macomb, 3,223. And Wayne County lost 7,696.
The estimates, released to the public today, show a continued shift outward for Metro Detroit.
Statewide, the momentum of population gain is moving west to Kent County, the home of Grand Rapids. Kent took the title of the fastest growing county in Michigan adding 6,078 people between 2015 and 2016, a 1 percent gain.
Washtenaw County is the home of Ann Arbor, now Michigan’s most valuable city by real estate value, also saw major gains adding 1 percent to their population or 3,862 in one year.
Individual city estimates come out later this year. With Wayne’s precipitous drop, it’s going to be interesting to see how well Detroit, the largest city in Wayne County, fared.
The biggest gainer nationally as far as population goes was Maricopa County, Arizona. They added a whopping 81,360 people in the last year. According to the U.S. Census, that’s 222 per day.
Across the country, the biggest loser was Chicago. Cook County, Illinois lost 21,324 people from 2015-2016.