Tables
   Estimated Population by State: 2000-2008 
   Estimated Population of Michigan: 1900-2008
Additional tables for all states are available from the population estimates page of the U.S. Census Bureau website.

Estimates of Population and Migration for Michigan: 2000-2008

Estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau on 12/22/08 indicate that Michigan's unfavorable migration trends have continued with little change from last year. Michigan's estimated population for 2008 is 10,003,022, which represents an increase of 65,000 since the 2000 census but a decrease of 46,000 from 2007.  Michigan remains the nation's eighth largest state.

After several years of very small increases in population, Michigan has now had three years of similarly small decreases.  Michigan's population decreased by 46 hundredths of one percent from 2007 to 2008, which is almost identical to a decrease of 34 hundredths of one percent in the previous year. 

Chart: Estimated Population of Michigan: 2000-2008
Chart: Estimated Population of Michigan: 2000-2008 (magnified to accentuate change)

Despite a lower birth rate than the U.S. as a whole, Michigan has continued to have more births than deaths.  This offset about half of the net migration from Michigan in 2008.

Michigan's rate of net migration to other states was 1.1 percent in 2008, which is up slightly from 1.0 percent in 2007.  Michigan had the nation's third highest rate in 2007, but improvements in New York and Rhode Island left Michigan with the nation's highest rate in 2008.

Each year, about half of the states have net domestic in-migration and about half have net out-migration. The blue line in the chart below shows the average rate for states gaining residents from the rest of the country (typically located in the West and the Sunbelt), and the red line shows the average rate for states losing residents to the rest of the country (typically located in the Northeast and Midwest). From 2000 to 2006, Michigan's rate was very close to the average for states with net out-migration. Michigan's loss of population to other states increased in 2007 and 2008, however.

Chart: Net Domestic Migration Rates for Michigan and Other States: 2000-2008

The largest changes in migration patterns in 2008 involve states that had large in-flows of population in prior years.  Florida had the nation's third highest rate of net domestic in-migration in 2004 (+1.5%), but it had substantial net out-migration in 2008 (-0.5%).  Net migration into Nevada from other states dropped from a peak of +2.9% in 2004 to +1.6% in 2007 and +0.6% in 2008.  Other states whose rates dropped more than twice as much as Michigan's between 2007 and 2008 were Idaho, Georgia, Arizona, New Mexico, and Louisiana.  These changes largely reflect disruptions of the housing market in 2008.  The figure for Louisiana also reflects a winding down of return-migration in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Updated December 22, 2008