Michigan Upper Peninsula population crisis in Ontonagon County

 

Ontonagon County has lost 53% of its population since its 1920 peak of 12,428.  It has fewer residents now than it did in 1900.  Copper mining brought the first wave of population growth to this area.

Source:  Wikipedia

Bridge Michigan, 6/27/2023

In Ontonagon, a Lake Superior shore village of about 1,500 and the surrounding county of the same name, there are now five funerals for every birth. Between 2010 and 2020, the county lost 14 percent of its population, as jobs dried up and people — especially the young — moved away. 

“They go to college and there’s no reason to come back unless they want to work at the school, the hospital or the bank,” Domitrovich said. 

“When I was growing up (in the 1990s), there were no parking spaces along Main Street Friday through Sunday,” Domitrovich recalled. “Now, Saturday night, you can roll a bowling ball down Main Street.”

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