Jeffrey Morenoff co-founded the Detroit Metro Area Communities Study in 2016. The longitudinal survey provides valuable insights into the perceptions and attitudes of people who live and work in Detroit. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan sought Morenoff’s expertise to investigate if and how the 2020 Census undercounted Detroit’s population.

Sixteen percent of Detroit residents in the labor force were unemployed as of March 2023, according to the latest survey from the University of Michigan’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study. The latest unemployment estimate essentially holds steady from the previous DMACS estimate in August 2022. Detroit’s unemployment peaked at 43% at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and remains higher than the estimated pre-pandemic unemployment rate of 8%.

Among the 73% of Detroiters who believe the average Black person is worse off than the average White person in terms of income and wealth, 71% support reparations and 75% say policies that address racial inequality should be a high priority. Among the 14% of Detroiters who believe the average Black person is equally well off as the average White person, 38% support reparations. 

In addition to affecting voter turnout in upcoming elections, a reparations policy may also shape which candidates voters support. The majority of Detroiters who said they will “definitely” or “probably” vote in the upcoming election said a reparations policy was an important factor in who they will support.

Nearly one of every four parents who are not in the labor force (23%) reported they stopped working within the past year—three times the rate of other Detroiters who are out of the labor force.

A representative survey from U-M’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study demonstrates that Black Detroit residents adopted these safety measures earlier than other groups. While 59% of Black residents were wearing masks at that point in the pandemic, only 38% of white residents and 35% of Latino residents were doing so.

Survey results suggest that many families are struggling with rising costs and food shortages. Sixty-five percent of Detroit households report spending more at the grocery store in the last month, while 71% of those who report not having enough to eat in the past week point to the prohibitively high cost of food as a cause of their insecurity.

The survey found Detroiters are most concerned about being able to care for family and friends and getting the health care they need during the coronavirus pandemic, even more so than having a place to live and access to transportation. 

The majority of Detroiters either know someone who has been evicted from their home during the past year or have been evicted themselves, and an even larger number of Detroiters know someone who has lost a job in the past year or have lost one themselves.