[timeofseasons]

Michigan five largest cities ( rank according to population)
1. Detroit
2. Grand Rapids
3. Warren
4. Sterling Heights
5. Lansing

Data is as of July 2009 by city-data.com
I thought it was interesting that Flint has fallen out of the top five already, and other cities such as Kalamazoo, and Saginaw have become much smaller than other communities like Dearborn, Farmington Hills, Canton, etc...If Flint is to continue it will be no larger than Battle Creek.

[us66]

I think the top five will stay the same. Warren and Sterling Heights will be close in population. There is a small chance SH will overtake W, but it's not too likely. If Clinton Township were a city, it might be in the top five, as might Jenison (unincorporated afaik) or possibly Canton Township (again, not a city), but Canton Twp. still has room to build.

[indigonation]

No big loss in my mind Flint should become a complete ghost town and disappear up its own *******. Its a boil on the face of the state anyways. Everybody should leave that hell hole.

[Vision-Quest]

Flint is falling on the scale just as bad as Youngstown, Ohio. Am I wrong? There is nothing in Flint other than abandoned factories. There is nothing to attract other business's as there is in Detroit area and Grand Rapids for example. The only positive about the city is that it is in Michigan. Unless Flint is going to rebound like other Michigan cities are, such as Detroit and all its suburbs, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, Flint will be nothing more than Youngstown, and nothing less than

[Perferator]

What about Detroit? How long before it gives up the top spot on the population list?

[us66]

There's hundreds of thousands of people who still have to flee Detroit before Grand Rapids takes the top spot. Detroit still has at least twice the population, and I think Detroit is undercounted...lots of people living in the city but using suburban addresses to save money on car insurance, get out of paying city income tax, and to send their children to suburban schools.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Perferator

What about Detroit? How long before it gives up the top spot on the population list?

That won't happen in any of our lifetimes. Detroit city is about 900,000, Grand Rapids city is about 198,000 (and has only grown about 2000 people/year over the last 10 years). Detroit Metro is somewhere around 4,000,000, GR Metro is around 800,000 (and growing about 10,000/year).

Grand Rapids would have to become the fastest growing city in the U.S. (maybe in the world) for 30 years straight to catch up.

[Perferator]

Originally Posted by magellan

That won't happen in any of our lifetimes. Detroit city is about 900,000, Grand Rapids city is about 198,000 (and has only grown about 2000 people/year over the last 10 years). Detroit Metro is somewhere around 4,000,000, GR Metro is around 800,000 (and growing about 10,000/year).

Grand Rapids would have to become the fastest growing city in the U.S. (maybe in the world) for 30 years straight to catch up.

Tossing in the decline of Detroit's population you could shorten that a little bit.

[scolls]

Originally Posted by Vision-Quest

Flint is falling on the scale just as bad as Youngstown, Ohio. Am I wrong? There is nothing in Flint other than abandoned factories. There is nothing to attract other business's as there is in Detroit area and Grand Rapids for example. The only positive about the city is that it is in Michigan. Unless Flint is going to rebound like other Michigan cities are, such as Detroit and all its suburbs, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, Flint will be nothing more than Youngstown, and nothing less than

Grand Rapids and especially Ann Arbor are nothing like Flint and Youngstown.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by scolls

Grand Rapids and especially Ann Arbor are nothing like Flint and Youngstown.

There are not many posts that scolls makes that I agree with, or think are accurate. This is the rare exception where I 100% agree with him. To imply that Grand Rapids or AA will be another Youngstown, shows a complete lack of knowledge of either GR or AA.