Countywide Results
Land Cover
First, here is a side-by-side comparison of urban land cover in 1991 and in 2002. There is obvious growth to the west/southwest.
When we combine the two years, we get a clearer picture of what changed. Urban areas continue to expand outward from the Detroit area, the majority of it in the upper-west.
Let's break it down statistically. The total proportion of land utilized for urban purposes has increased 14.4%, whereas non-urban land cover classes have been reduced by 18.57%.
Land cover |
1991 count |
2002 count |
1991 % |
2002 % |
% change |
Urban |
707316 |
809200 |
57.22% |
65.27% |
+14.40% |
Non-Urban |
528746 |
430542 |
42.78% |
34.73% |
-18.57% |
New urban increased at a rate greater than 2x that of new non-urban, as seen below.
Land cover |
Count |
% of total |
Unchanged Urban |
619867 |
50.15% |
Unchanged Non-Urban |
342221 |
27.69% |
New Urban |
186525 |
15.09% |
New Non-Urban |
87449 |
7.07% |
Total |
1236062 |
|
Population Density
Next we see the change in population density which has occurred from 1990 to 2000. The city of Detroit has seen a significant decrease, and the surrounding metro area slightly less so. The greatest increases, again, occur in the western part of the county.
*Note: Due to the census tract problem, areas along the eastern shoreline cannot be relied upon. We feel this does not interfere with the overall picture however.
What do the numbers say?
Year |
Total Population |
Density (Per sq. mi.) |
1991 |
2111687 |
3286.7 |
2002 |
2061162 |
3208.06 |
change (actual) |
-50525 |
-78.64 |
change (in %) |
-2.39% |
-2.39% |
Actually, the county as a whole lost population between 1990 and 2000. However, as you will see in the next section, there were significant shifts in population within the county borders.
Further Breakdown
Here, we break up the county into three sections: Detroit, Metro area, and Outer Metro area. This was done by extracting tracts from within Detroit's border, within the surrounding cities' borders, and then those without, respectively. We could then properly analyze total population counts as these encompassing areas remained the same in both census years.
The trend is quite clear. Population has increased along the edge of the Metropolitan Detroit area, and decreased within. The Outer area is well above the average population change for the county. The Metro area, while losing population, remains above the average as well. This leaves Detroit as the main source for the counties population loss.
Let's see how this correlates to urban areas. Once again we divide up the county, this time extracting the "new urban areas" within each division:
Much like population, there is significant urban growth in the Outer area. This is what we expected to see. Interesting to note is that although the Detroit and Metro areas lost population, there remains some urban growth. This highlights one of the major problems with urban sprawl. With less people occupying those urban areas, buildings, homes, and businesses are left in the dust. Unfortunately, these things rarely get un-built.