The US Census Bureau thread

[iheartthed]

Two neighboring enclaves of Detroit that are currently on very different paths:

2 cities within Detroit had very different population changes
Hamtramck and Highland Park saw stark population shifts in the last decade

Angela Lugo-Thomas grew up in Detroit and never imagined living in Highland Park. She'd heard stories about crime and drugs in the city.

But 21 years ago, she and her husband bought a home there. It's where they've been ever since, raising their daughters and watching the city go through tumultuous times, as properties emptied and street lights dimmed.

Still, in her eyes, Highland Park is a "gem."

Nearby, Rezaul Chowdhury,50, moved to Hamtramck six years ago from Virginia because the 2-square-mile city spelled opportunity. He emigrated to the U.S. from Bangladesh in 2000. He came to Michigan because his family lived nearby in metro Detroit and houses in Hamtramck were affordable. It's a place where new immigrants find a "landing port," he said.

Lugo-Thomas and Chowdhury live in two island cities within Detroit that saw stark population change during the last decade, the latest census data shows. Majority Black Highland Park's population shrank by 24%, or roughly 2,800 residents, while Hamtramck — where many residents are immigrants hailing from Bangladesh and Yemen — grew by 27%, or about 6,000 residents.

...

In many ways, Highland Park is the story of what happens to a city after a booming industry — and its tax base — leaves.

In the early 1900s, Henry Ford built Model T's and offered a then-unheard-of $5-a-day wage. By the 1970s, Ford left. A couple decades later, Chrysler Corp. moved its corporate base from Highland Park to Auburn Hills.

In 2000, Highland Park had 16,746 residents. Ten years later, that dropped to 11,776.

...

"Hamtramck has not been stripped of its culture and allows its culture to grow. And I will say that cities like Highland Park have been totally stripped of their value and culture from a governmental basis and void of the things that make them grow," said Mark Hackshaw, president of the Highland Park Business Association.

Still, Hackshaw said he believes there has been an undercount of Highland Park residents in the 2020 census. In fact, people and businesses are coming to the city, he said.

...

"(Hamtramck) represents a new beginning in a way, because if you look around, a lot of families in Hamtramck are either refugees, immigrants, and this is usually the city that you're able to kind of set your roots and start your life," said Ferizovic, who lived in the city for 22 years before moving to the suburbs four years ago.

Hamtramck’s population grew by 27%, or about 6,000 residents, the latest census figures show. The city has a population of 28,433 people.

"It's gratifying to see this enormous increase, but it's nothing that folks in Hamtramck didn't already realize and that we haven't already been seeing for 20 years," said Karen Majewski, who has been mayor of Hamtramck for 16 years. She's up for reelection in November.

The city gained a small percentage of housing units (2.5%), but saw occupancy rates increase by 10 percentage points to 91% in 2020.

Conant Avenue — a commercial corridor lined with clothing stores and restaurants — cuts through Detroit and Hamtramck. Nearby, Joseph Campau is home to a host of businesses from Al-Haramain International Food to Dos Locos Tacos. In residential streets, bungalows sit close to one another.

"Everything is kind of right there in a 2-mile radius," Ferizovic.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...on/8181137002/