Detroit Mayor To Challenge Census Results Showing Population Decline
U.S. Census population data released Thursday (August 12) reports that the number of Black residents in Detroit fell while the hispanic, white and Asian populations grew over the past 10 years.
Detroit’s overall population dropped 10.5 percent in the last decades, according to the latest results. While the city remains majority-Black, the African American population fell to 493,212 in 2020, from 586,573 in 2010.
The numbers are causing city leaders to contest the 2020 census. In a Thursday statement, Mayor Mike Duggan said he plans to challenge the results by "legal remedies to get Detroit an accurate count," the Detroit Free Press reports.
The mayor and Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib said last year they would challenge the results amid concerns about how the Census Bureau completed its count.
"This is exactly what Rep. Tlaib and I predicted on Oct. 28th when we were joined by census workers who shared their stories about how Detroit neighborhoods were being undercounted and were upset that the count was shut down a month before originally planned," Duggan said.
"The Census data released today says Detroit has only 254,000 occupied households. DTE reports there are nearly 280,000 residential households currently paying electric bills,” he continued. “At a minimum, the Census somehow failed to count 25,000 occupied houses with running electricity.”
There’s already precedent in challenging census results in the Motor City. In 2010, then-Mayor Dave Bing vowed to fight the results, however the count of 713,777 still stood.
Overall, Detroit’s population declined to 639,111 in 2020, from 713,777, but there was growth among some groups. The Free Press reports that results show an uptick in the non-Hispanic white population to 9.5 percent from 7.8 percent in 2010; an increase in the Hispanic or Latino population to 8 percent from 6.8 percent; and growth in the non-Hispanic Asian population to 1.6 percent, from 1 percent.