In a Nutshell

• Most of Michigan’s residents are located in the state’s urban areas, but those urban areas comprise little of the state’s land area. Relative to the rural areas, the populations in urban communities are growing faster, have more diversity in race and ethnicity, and include more immigrants from a wider cross section of nations.
• Both rural and urban areas have wealthy and less wealthy communities. While poverty is often associated with Michigan’s core urban communities with their deep levels of poverty and need, many rural communities have low income individuals that are frequent users of food stamps and Medicaid.
• While there are some differences, such as more college graduates per capita, a greater frequency of crime per capita, and greater access to broadband Internet service in urban areas, going by the data, urban and rural Michigan have far more in common than not.