• Michigan’s population rose by 57,103 in 2023, reaching 10,140,459, driven primarily by increased international migration
• Net international migration added 67,608 people in 2023, double 2022’s total, while net losses to other states significantly decreased
• With the pandemic waning, the gap between deaths and births narrowed to its smallest since 2019

Michigan has gained substantial population for the first time in years, bolstered by a wave of new immigrants.

As of July, the state has an estimated population of 10,140,459, up 57,103 from 2023, or 0.6%. Since the 2020 Census, the population is now up 61,121.

Michigan remains the 10th most populous state.

By far the biggest driver in that change was an increase in international migration, with an estimated 67,608 people moving to the state from abroad. That’s up nearly 12,000 from 2023 and double the international immigration reported in 2022.

Net losses to other states fell to 7,656, down from a net loss of 17,446 in 2023. Stretching back to 2011, the state has averaged an annual net loss of over 25,000 to other states.

From Texas to TC

Helping lower those overall net losses are people like Stuart and Alejandra Gibson. They just moved to Long Lake Township outside Traverse City, moving from Texas.

Gibson, a native of Scotland, said he loved Texas, but not the heat.

“The more time you spend outside in Texas, the more you don’t like the heat,” he said.

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After considering North Carolina, just before the hurricane, Gibson said they ruled that out because of the humidity. And their friends were moving to Michigan too.

“Everyone was thinking of the Traverse City area,” he said. Now they’re in the process of unpacking and finding that “every single thing,” like taxes and insurance, is cheaper in Michigan.

Realtor Geno D’Angelo of Petoskey, who helped the Gibsons, said he hears people complain about tourists as the cause of the region’s traffic woes.

“It’s not,” he said. “There’s definitely an increase (in movers), especially with remote work.”

D’Angelo said he’s helped people move to the region from Texas and Florida, and his YouTube channel gets inquiries from across the country, he said.

Despite the higher cost of housing in northern Michigan, relative to other parts of the state, he said it’s lower than in many Sun Belt and Western states, “making this seem like a bargain.”

Gap between deaths and births falls

As the COVID-19 pandemic waned, the gap between deaths and births narrowed, with 2,855 more deaths than births through July 2024, the endpoint of the estimates.

In 2022, there were nearly 13,500 more deaths than births. The last year there were more births than deaths was 2019.

Those factors combined to push Michigan’s population up. In the latest estimates, the Census reported that Michigan’s population has now risen over 99,000 since 2021; it had fallen by an estimated 31,300 from 2020 to 2021.

Nationwide, population rose 1%, according to the Census Bureau, and most states gained population, including all Midwest states. Only Mississippi, Vermont and West Virginia lost population. 

Census data released earlier this month hinted at some of the changes in domestic migration patterns when it showed the Midwest gained residents from the other three regions of the country, a stark reversal from prior years.

Population changes not even

But those gains weren’t spread evenly around the 12 states that the Census considers the Midwest. Most Midwest states saw their gains from the rest of the country rise or their losses get smaller, like they did in Michigan. 

Ohio and Nebraska saw their net losses increase however. And North Dakota went from a net-gain to a net-loss state, the latest data shows.

The dramatic changes, however, are largely the result of changes in how the Census Bureau estimates international migration. It said that new data sources led to far higher estimates — for this year and past years — of incoming migrants.

A year ago, the Census estimated 1.14 million international migrants came from July 2022 to July 2023. This year, for the same time period, the estimate has now doubled, to 2.29 million.

And for the past year, it rose to an estimated 2.78 million people from other countries. For 2022 and 2023, the changes represent an 84% increase in the estimated total international migrants, which includes both legal and undocumented migrants.

"Improved integration of federal data sources on immigration has enhanced our estimates methodology," said Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for Estimates and Projections, in a press release.