Michigan and West Michigan
With
respect to migration patterns into and out of West Michigan, the region continued
to experience a strong positive net migration across the thirteen counties when
compared to the other 70 counties in Michigan. There were 90,678 residents of other counties
in Michigan — and the 49 other states, including Washington D.C. and Puerto
Rico — that moved to West Michigan in 2016. Just over 69,000 of those new
residents, or 76.1 percent, moved to West Michigan from one of Michigan’s 70 other
counties.
Although
the region lost 64,041 former residents to other parts of the state, the result
was a net gain of 4,965 migrants from other parts of Michigan. Among the top
destinations in Michigan for those leaving the region were Kalamazoo County,
Ingham County, Washtenaw County, and Wayne and Oakland Counties. Due to the
large inflows of new residents coming from the east side of the state, however,
the top three counties in Michigan with respect to net migration into West
Michigan were all located in the Detroit metro area: Wayne County, Oakland
County, and Macomb County. West Michigan experienced a net gain of new
residents from 49 of the 70 other counties in Michigan.
West Michigan and the Nation
West
Michigan also experienced a positive net inflow when comparing migration patterns
for the region to migration patterns across the United States.
Excluding
the remainder of Michigan, West Michigan experienced a net loss of 173 residents
to the other 49 states located across the nation and to Washington D.C. and
Puerto Rico. The top destinations for former West Michigan residents included
states in the South (Florida, Texas, North Carolina), Midwest (Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin), and West (California and Arizona). On the opposite
end of the spectrum, West Michigan saw the largest net gains from former
residents of Illinois, Alabama, and Pennsylvania, while experiencing the
greatest net loss of West Michigan residents to both Florida and North
Carolina.
Future Data Topics
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