GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — New Census figures show the Grand Rapids area is the fastest growing metro area in Michigan.
The numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau say the Grand Rapids area, which includes Barry, Kent, Montcalm and Ottawa counties, showed 0.9 percent growth from July 2014 to July 2015. The Ann Arbor metro area grew 0.5 percent.
Overall, Michigan’s population increased 0.06 percent to 9,922,576.
Wayne County, which includes Detroit, lost 6,673 residents, a 0.4 percent drop. Kurt Metzger, founder of Data Driven Detroit, tells the Detroit Free Press that could signal a stabilization of population losses in Detroit.
Metzger tells The Detroit News in an email that’s “due to a combination of new residents in the core and select neighborhoods and a large, poor population that is unable to move.”
