Growth of Hispanic population drives overall growth in Michigan
The state of Michigan’s overall growth is largely due to its growing Hispanic population, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows.
Michigan is one of about a quarter of all U.S. states where the number of Hispanic residents increased while the number of non-Hispanic residents decreased between 2022 and 2023. This is part of a growing national trend — across the U.S., the Hispanic population accounted for nearly 71% of total population growth, according to the Census Bureau.
There are now more than 600,000 Hispanics living in Michigan, about 6% of the state’s population. That’s more than 12% higher than the 2020 decennial census, when 564,259 Hispanics lived in the state. Between 2022 and 2023 alone, Michigan’s Hispanic population grew by nearly 12,000 people.
The growth of the Hispanic population is the reason the state grew at all in 2023 instead of continuing to shrink. The state as a whole gained only 3,980 people from 2022 to 2023, which is an improvement over previous year-over-year estimates, but not by much.
“We are completely overlooked,” says Juan Marinez, a board member of the nonprofit Latino Leaders for the Enhancement of Advocacy and Development (LLEAD) and professor emeritus at Michigan State University. “It baffles me when politicians talk about why we need to bring more people here to grow the population – look at what you already have.”
Michigan’s Hispanic and Latino populations are spread throughout the state, Marinez said. There are communities with larger Hispanic populations, like Mexicantown in southwest Detroit, but by and large there aren’t many ethnic enclaves in the state, making it easier to overlook the growing number of Hispanics.
Another likely reason is that Michigan has a relatively small Hispanic population compared to other large states. With a population of 10,037,261 in 2023, Michigan is the 10th most populous state in the United States. North Carolina — ranked 9th with 10.8 million residents — has more than twice as many Hispanics, who make up about 11.4% of the state’s population.
New Jersey, ranked 11th with a population of nearly 9.3 million, is 22.67% Hispanic, with more than 2.1 million people of Hispanic descent. The largest states in the U.S. – California, Texas and Florida – are all more than a quarter Hispanic. Figures from 2023 show that more than 40% of all Californians are of Hispanic descent.
There is a well-documented phenomenon that immigrants choose the places closest to their country of origin, and Michigan is farther north than most immigrants. Communities tend to form around already established groups – which explains, for example, why Michigan has such a large Middle Eastern population – and job opportunities.
But that makes it easier to overlook the growth of the Hispanic population here, experts say. The community is thriving not only because of immigration (which accounts for just over a third of the increase in the Hispanic population nationwide) but because the population has many children and comparatively few deaths.
That makes all the difference. As of 2020, Michigan is the 13th oldest state in the U.S. Most states in the U.S. are aging. But older states tend to shrink, not grow. And if a state doesn’t have younger residents to replace older, retiring workers, it can strain everything from infrastructure—who’s available to work on the roads or teach in the schools?—to the economy—who’s going to pay for the roads or schools when more and more people are already relying on the government-provided retirement benefits like Medicare that were promised to them?
“The fact that the Hispanic population is much younger is a benefit for all of Michigan,” said Kurt Metzger, demographer and director emeritus of Data Driven Detroit. “Other than that, we’re older and we’re not growing. … But unless we can ease the financial burden on children, that’s not going to change in the grand scheme of things, but we need young people to make ends meet.”
The Hispanic population offers just that, Marinez said, but it is often portrayed negatively or ignored entirely. But that doesn’t change the long history of Hispanics in the state. Many Hispanics began moving here in the ’40s and ’50s, he said, filling the jobs that became vacant when other groups moved into industry.
Since then, the community has flourished across the state, creating a vibrant place not just in one city or town, but everywhere. In every county in Michigan, the Hispanic population grew between 2020 and 2023, even if it was only by a few people.
His Paul Benavides, operator of Cafécito Caliente, a Michigan-based online portal dedicated to promoting the Hispanic Latino community, was not surprised by the news. People often doubt how productive the group can be, but they’re always on board, he said.
For example, Benavides helps run a Latino business group. They planned to host an expo in Lansing where vendors could sell their products not just to Latinos, but to anyone who was interested. People told Benavides they would be surprised if he found even 20 or 30 different people at the event willing to sell their products.
A total of 60 vendors were present. Hundreds took part in the event.
“We’ve always been here,” Benavides said. “I think we’re just starting to become more visible.”
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