u/HazenThrowaway

With the new Census Bureau numbers out this week, we can see how Detroit compares to other "Rust Belt" and/or Midwest cities since 2020. Splitting them into a couple categories..

Legacy Industrial:

Cincinnati: +1.63%
Detroit: +1.56%
Pittsburgh: +1.54%

Chicago: -0.54%
Buffalo: -1.34%
Cleveland: -2.42%
Milwaukee: -2.57%
Baltimore: -2.68%
Memphis: -3.71%
St. Louis: -7.77%

Recent Growers:

Madison: +6.08%
Columbus: +3.60%
Kansas City: +2.58%
Detroit: +1.56%
Indianapolis: +1.52%
Louisville: +1.41%
Grand Rapids: +1.14%
Omaha: +0.56%
Minneapolis: +0.09%

Wikipedia has been updated with the full list of US cities over 100k residents.

Overall, Detroit has caught up to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh as the only growing major cities in the Rust Belt, and we're even outpacing some other cities that have been steadily growing for years.

Disclaimer: these are just estimates, so take them with a grain of salt.

For context, it was announced last fall that Amtrak service would return to Michigan Central Station, replacing the outdated Amshack. Officials hope the alignment will be used once again for a Chicago-Toronto service in the future - maybe even HSR.

MDOT will also set aside a platform for the forever-proposed, never-funded regional rail line that could link Ann Arbor, Pontiac, and the airport to downtown. This multimodal hub would also replace the old intercity bus depot.

Detroit's People Mover operator, DTC, is now lead on the whole project. They have been studying expansion opportunities, and connecting to Michigan Central now seems like an obvious choice. It's only 1.5 miles away and could directly link with the maintenance facility/HQ on Michigan Ave. Their proposals should be released soon.

Just commented this under yesterday's parking lot meme, but felt it was worth posting for wider awareness.

The first District Detroit plan in 2017 called for a new hotel on the corner of Woodward and 75. The "second phase" announced in 2023 still included this hotel. Both plans were awarded significant tax incentives.

Now in 2026, over nine years after the first announcement, the hotel still shows no signs of breaking ground soon.

Other downtown hotels that have opened/will open before this one:

• Foundation Hotel (100 rooms)
• The Siren (106)
• Element (110)
• Cambria (158)
• Roost (118)
• Godfrey (227)
• AC Marriott (152)
• Merchants Building (135)
• Edition Hudson's (210)
• NoMad Michigan Central (180)
• JW Marriott (600)

But Olympia somehow can't make the numbers work for a hotel here, directly connected to Michigan's busiest entertainment venue..

The first District Detroit announcement also included 600 new apartments. Only 92 have opened in The Eddystone. I considered tallying the total number of housing units opened since 2017, but it was quickly clear that figure would be much larger and more difficult to count than the hotels.