Sign of the Times

Yup, it's finally happened. US Census Bureau estimates have Michigan's population dropping below 10 million. That's a sad, sad sign of the times.

A highlight from The Detroit News article:

Michigan has been bleeding people since 2005, and at the heart of the decline has been the growing exodus of people moving out looking for work. The current estimate puts Michigan's population at 9,969,727, down from 10,002,486 in 2008. The state has seen a net loss of more than a half-million people to other states since 2001 -- a number that swamps the natural increase from a greater number of births than deaths.

For a number of years, the relative vibrancy of the nation's economy gave unemployed Michigan workers a chance to seek jobs in the Sun Belt and across the country. But with the rest of the nation fully consumed by the recession in 2008, some experts suspected there would be fewer opportunities for workers to flee Michigan.

But the estimates released Wednesday show that people still found ways to leave -- either for another job, retirement or education. Although the outmigration slowed, from an estimated 103,637 from 2007 to 2008 to 87,339 from 2008 to 2009, it still pulled the state's population into the negative.

The Detroit Free Press also did a story on it -- read it here.

Kurt Metzger, a well-respected local guy also known as The Detroit Data Guru, gave his take on the numbers today as well. It's his rundown on what the Census numbers show; great info for you data heads out there.

Here's a brief look at his stats:

* Births in Michigan are at their lowest number since the beginning of the baby boom in 1946.
* Michigan's domestic out-migration (2008-09) total ranked third behind California and New York. 23 states experienced domestic out-migration.
* 9 states, led by Michigan, Ohio, New York, Illinois and Mississippi experienced Net Out-migration. Michigan's loss of 71,893 residents far outnumbered Ohio's 24,443.