Detroit Evening Report: Duggan calls US Census ‘clown show’ after numbers report another population drop

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The Detroit skyline from Hart Plaza.

The federal government reports Detroit continues to lose residents in its latest figures.


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Recent numbers published by the U.S. Census Bureau estimate the city’s population is just over 620,000 as of last July, down around 19,000 residents since last official count in 2020.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan claims the numbers are wrong, tweeting that the U.S. Census Bureau has “become a complete national clown show.”

Duggan says the city plans to challenge the estimates, which could steer millions of dollars in federal funding away from Detroit. The mayor claims the Census Bureau’s statistics are at odds with U.S. Postal Service reporting last year that showed an increase of 2,300 residential homes in Michigan’s largest city.

The bureau rejected calls for adjusting the 2020 numbers despite city officials filing a lawsuit last September challenging the data.

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Author

  • Sascha Raiyn
    Sascha Raiyn is Education Reporter at 101.9 WDET. She is a native Detroiter who grew up listening to news and music programming on Detroit Public Radio.