Port Huron leads St. Clair County in population decline, 2020 U.S. Census data shows

Population declines continued to stretch across the small and rural communities in St. Clair County over the past decade, according to the 2020 U.S. Census data released this week.

But the biggest change in size and demographics may be happening in the county seat.

Between 2010 and 2020, St. Clair County’s population county reportedly fell from 163,040 to 160,383. Port Huron’s population count fell by 4%, or roughly 1,200, to 28,983, making up the biggest single piece of the county’s 1.6% decrease.

It’s a shift that became a big source of discussion for some city administrations late Thursday afternoon after news of the census results first emerged. City Manager James Freed said they planned to review results with other communities.

The Port Huron official pointed to Detroit’s reported massive population decline that prompted Mayor Mike Duggan to refute the U.S. Census’ data count of 254,000 households and allege an undercount by 25,000 on social media.

“I’m concerned it’s going to happen here,” Freed said late Thursday, albeit on a much smaller scale. In an email to City Council members Friday, he also echoed his concerns that the census was “probably undercounting” Port Huron’s true number of residents.

Freed and county officials have been outspoken about the need for more housing for all the residents they believed were on the hunt for a place to live in St. Clair County. This month, for example, work was expected to be underway on the grant-funded installation of infrastructure by city-bid crews to incentivize a new neighborhood of single-family residences along 10th Avenue.

“That in no way matches reality because of all these homes we built (and will build),” Freed said of the 2020 census. “We have Macomb County flight.”

Macomb County’s population count was up for 2020, though communities across Metro Detroit were also down.

St. Clair County Board Chairman Jeff Bohm said he agreed there were plenty of new residents were coming from elsewhere in southeastern Michigan — at least enough to question whether the census undercounted.

“We’ll have to go back to the individual cities and take a more in-depth dive,” he said. “Looking at the city of Detroit’s a great example. … I’m hard-pressed to think we have lost population in St. Clair County just understanding how many people are coming, moving to the area.”

Population counts from the census are used to help set political district boundaries at the state and congressional level, as well as to determine federal funding levels.

Port Huron Mayor Pauline Repp helped promote the 2020 census count for the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments, where she’s a vice-chairperson, and said there was a good chance for undercounting if people missed taking the census during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“And unfortunately, I don’t’ think people necessarily recognize the importance of responding to the census,” she said. “So, consequently, people get missed. I think you’ll find there’s more than that.”

“Of course, most core cities are losing population, it’s a fact of life,” Repp added. “And people are having smaller families.”

Diversity on the rise as population count falls

Although fewer residents were counted, communities in St. Clair County may be becoming more diverse, according to census counts.

In both Port Huron and St. Clair County overall, the number of residents counted as white or Black in the census were down. The number of those counted as being of two races or more, however, was up by counts of 5,645 and 1,185 in the county and city, respectively.

But some officials weren't sure what spurred population decline overall and said they hadn’t had a chance to investigate the data; others speculated.

For example, Clay Township saw a 6.8% decline to 8,446 in its 2020 population count but has a larger swath of vacation rentals and part-time residents than other communities because of its miles of waterfront on the mainland and on Harsens Island.

“We have more people that are not homesteading here,” said Clay Township Supervisor Artie Bryson. “I mean, houses are being built here and everything, but they’re not full-time residents.”

And so, he said, they probably weren't counted.

Meanwhile, the city of Algonac, which Clay Township surrounds, saw a 2.1% increase to 4,196.

David Haynes, Port Huron’s planning director, said declining populations over time in a larger area could be attributed to local shifts as residents move out of the county center “just as subdivisions have come online in surrounding townships.”

“That ends up pulling people out,” he said. Still, he also cautioned it was too soon to know before officials further look into the 2020 data.

Counts for some communities surrounding the city of Port Huron did increase. . Those include:

• Burtchville Township 1.7% up to 4,077
• Fort Gratiot 1.2% up to 11,242
• Kimball Township 2.7% up to 9,609
• Marysville 0.4% up to 9,997
• Port Huron Township 1.3% up to 10,792

Sanilac County, overall, saw a 3.1% decline in its count to 31,913.

To review more about the 2020 U.S. Census population and housing data, visit www.census.gov. 

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.