“Lansing has 4.5% decline in residents” — the headline may have some thinking that an exodus is under way out of the Capital City. I’m going to quibble, though, and say the latest census projections aren’t evidence of too much.
Lansing is shrinking, but there’s no exodus in the stats ... yet.
For example, the 4.5 percent figure is the decline between the 2000 census total of 119,128 and the 2008 estimate of 113,808. But, if you go back to the 2006 census estimate, Lansing was at 114,276. Lansing is smaller than it was in 2000, but it’s only lost 468 people between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2008. That’s not even 1 percent of the population.
No doubt the numbers would be different if the census folks could show the most recent 12 months, when the local unemployment rate really took off.
But the real headline here is that the city continues to see a slow decline in its population, not any huge drops.
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