Eastpointe residents (Photo: Facebook)
While Detroit and Michigan's African American population declined in the past decade, the latest U.S. Census shows Black residents have become a majority in two more Detroit suburbs.
The Detroit News reports:
The rapid growth of Black residents in the Wayne County community of Harper Woods, as well as the Macomb County community of Eastpointe, helped fuel the change.
More African Americans also moved into other suburbs, including nearby Warren, the state's third-largest city.
"Much of this is due to African Americans in Detroit moving to suburban communities with affordable housing and good schools," Kurt Metzger, a demographer who is Pleasant Ridge's mayor. "Here we have communities that border the city and which saw large numbers of African Americans moving in last decade when more than 180,000-plus African Americans left. They have found the suburbs to be welcoming and have continued to move in."
The Census showed the African American population grew 58 percent from 2010 to 2020 in Harper Woods and 89 percent in Eastpointe, the Freep reports. African Americans comprise 66 percent of Harper Woods' population in 2020, up from 45.6 percent in 2010, and Eastpointe is about 53 percent Black, up from 29.5 percent 10 years ago.
The number of Blacks in Detroit went from 82.2 percent of the population in 2010 to 77.2 percent in 2020 while the white, Asian and Hispanic populations grew.
Suburbs that were already Black majority before this Census include Southfield and Oak Park.
