[Indentured Servant]

If you are demographic geek like me....you might find this data interesting. Grand Rapids ranks very high among Midwest largest metros in terms of population near downtown, while Detroit ranks among the weakest. Detroit gains strength once you get beyond the core while Grand Rapids starts falling off.

In fairness, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee have part of their radius cut off due to water and or international boundaries. I always thought that Grand Rapids core felt really urban and dense. This proves it.

Columbus and the Midwest- Metro Population By Distance from Downtown | All Columbus, Ohio Data

[Indentured Servant]

Mile 1
1. Chicago: 181,714
2. Minneapolis: 123,526
3. Milwaukee: 86,261
4. Grand Rapids: 75,613
5. Cincinnati: 65,264
6. Omaha: 56,244
7. Toledo: 55,739
8. Akron: 53,715
9. Columbus: 49,667
10. Indianapolis: 45,079
11. Dayton: 41,053
12. St. Louis: 40,184
13. Kansas City: 32,900
14. Detroit: 32,810
15. Cleveland: 32,193

[TheProf]

Cleveland's would be a lot higher if not for the fact, also, that to the West of downtown, where there's a significant population base, the long-time, well settled (for going on 2 centuries) neighborhoods of Tremont and Ohio City are pushed a half-mile and more away because, immediately west of downtown, is the wide Flats industrial valley -- the northern most part, these days, converted into apartments, restaurants and entertainment steadily over the last 30 years. If there were no Cuyahoga River, or "Flats" valley that surrounding it, and the West Side of Cleveland were immediately adjacent to downtown, its 1-mile population radius would be much, much higher.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Indentured Servant

Mile 1
1. Chicago: 181,714
2. Minneapolis: 123,526
3. Milwaukee: 86,261
4. Grand Rapids: 75,613
5. Cincinnati: 65,264
6. Omaha: 56,244
7. Toledo: 55,739
8. Akron: 53,715
9. Columbus: 49,667
10. Indianapolis: 45,079
11. Dayton: 41,053
12. St. Louis: 40,184
13. Kansas City: 32,900
14. Detroit: 32,810
15. Cleveland: 32,193

That's really fascinating.

[Indentured Servant]

Originally Posted by magellan

That's really fascinating.

I thought so too. To be fair, since these are radius metrics, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland should be double because half their radius is water. Notwithstanding, Grand Rapids would still rank 4 according to these figures.

[MS313]

Yeah Grand Rapids is land locked. Ranks fairly well for a mid sized city. Speaking of land locked... why is Indianapolis ranking so poorly for a land locked major city?

Chicago and Milwaukee is so populated near it's core that the water doesn't effect it that much.

Detroit's emptiest and least populated and most blighted neighborhoods are near Detroit's core. Which is one of Detroit's biggest problems and obstacles imo. But downtown Detroit was never a big residential area even in it's prime. But now Detroit has the space near it's core to become very densely populated.

[Indentured Servant]

Originally Posted by MS313

Yeah Grand Rapids is land locked. Ranks fairly well for a mid sized city. Speaking of land locked... why is Indianapolis ranking so poorly for a land locked major city?

Chicago and Milwaukee is so populated near it's core that the water doesn't effect it that much.

Detroit's emptiest and least populated and most blighted neighborhoods are near Detroit's core. Which is one of Detroit's biggest problems and obstacles imo. But downtown Detroit was never a big residential area even in it's prime. But now Detroit has the space near it's core to become very densely populated.

The highways kind of tore up a lot of the core in Detroit. 375 is useless. The downtown blighted core is a problem but also offers a lot of promise. There is plenty of land to build.

[Monty870]

I'm assuming the numbers for St. Louis and Cincinnati include the people in the cities across the river from them. So if it's going to be a true comparison of "population" the numbers for Windsor should be included for Detroit (there are some very densely populated areas in Windsor's core neighbourhoods). I mean yeah we're Canadians but we're still people and we have strong historic and cultural ties to Detroit.

Look at the impact....if Windsor was included the "Mile 5" data for Detroit would change from 283,000 to about 433,000. That would put it at #4 in the Midwest instead of #12.

[Republic of Michigan]

Originally Posted by Indentured Servant

If you are demographic geek like me....you might find this data interesting. Grand Rapids ranks very high among Midwest largest metros in terms of population near downtown, while Detroit ranks among the weakest. Detroit gains strength once you get beyond the core while Grand Rapids starts falling off.

In fairness, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee have part of their radius cut off due to water and or international boundaries. I always thought that Grand Rapids core felt really urban and dense. This proves it.

Columbus and the Midwest- Metro Population By Distance from Downtown | All Columbus, Ohio Data

I'm just curious what the number would be if Windsor was included.

[Coldjensens]

This confused me since the last thing I saw said downtown and midtown population alone is well over 40,000. Then I saw this is based on 2010 numbers. It is completely irrelevant to today, at least for Detroit. It is interesting how many people just do not get the fact that 2010 Detroit and 2016 Detroit are completely different cities - at least as it pertains to downtown. Nothing about Detroit in 2010 makes a valid means of comparison to anything for today (unless you want to compare 2016 Detroit to 2010 Detroit). There is no real similarity other than much of the architecture is still here (only much of it is now restored and in use). In 2010 Downtown Detroit was a ghosttown. When I went of an evening walk, there was no one around except homeless people and me. Now - it is lively and fun there are hundreds, or thousands of people out and about at any given time, (tens of thousands if there is an event.). It is not crowded like New York, but it is lively.

I wonder what impact the non-resident residents have on these kinds of numbers. A majority of the young people I know living downtown kept their parent's address as their address after they moved downtown. The reason? 2.4% city income tax and massive differences in car insurance rates.

Get some of your mail at Mom and Dad's house in Oakland County, and save 5,000 or more a year. Not hard to decide for most young people I think.

I do not know whether there are enough of them doing that to influence those totals.