An aerial view of the Tahquamenon River and the surrounding fall forest, a popular tourist destination in the eastern end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Credit: Michigan DNR.
By Victor Wooddell
Capital News Service
The number of young people moving to small towns and rural areas across America has been increasing, but not so in Michigan, where populations in rural areas are shrinking and aging, according to a recent report by the Census Bureau.
This national trend reverses a pattern since the 1980s in which more people moved from rural areas to urban centers.
In Michigan, however, both urban centers like Detroit as well as rural areas continue to lose people under 45, Census data shows.
According to the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics, the state is experiencing slow overall population growth, but that is due to immigration, not the birthrate, which is declining because an increasing proportion of residents is becoming older.
While births have declined, deaths have been increasing, and the state’s overall population is expected to begin decreasing in the next 10 years, the center says.
These trends are especially pronounced in the Upper Peninsula and other rural areas.
Among all counties in the U.P., only Houghton County gained in population in the last 10 years. The others declined by a total of 3.1%, according to a report by Rural Insights, a research center affiliated with Northern Michigan University.
As a result, the U.P.’s political power in state and federal elections and policymaking will decline compared to the rest of the state, according to an article by Rural Insights Institute Director David Haynes, a former president of Northern Michigan University.
The state government is pursuing policies to reverse the trend. Those include strategies intended to impact housing and labor shortages and reduce the cost of living.
The state Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity says housing and workforce challenges are the most cited problems facing rural communities in the state.
As a result, grants are available to local communities to build new housing so workers can live closer to sources of employment. That’s intended to attract new workers to the state, the department said.
New statistics indicate that the population may be growing in some rural areas, particularly in the Capital region and the west side of the state, mostly due to people moving there from other states.
While those changes did not offset the overall decline in statewide rural population, it is a positive sign, Labor and Economic Opportunity said.