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:: Wayne County is located in Southeastern Michigan and contains approximately 623 square miles. Oakland and Macomb Counties border Wayne County on the north, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River form a natural boundary on the east, Monroe County lies on the south, and Washtenaw County on the west. Map 1 on page 18 shows the location of the County. :: Wayne County's development began with the settlement of Detroit in 1701. It is the oldest and most fully developed of all counties in the state of Michigan and is the eleventh most populous county in the nation. Its 2000 population was 2,061,162 and comprised 21 percent of the state's total population, according to the Census 2000. Reference Map 1: Wayne County Municipalities
:: Several other major urban centers are located in Wayne County. The city of Dearborn is often mistaken for a west side, inner-ring suburb, but it is actually older than many parts of Detroit. Its growth occurred in the 1910's and 1920's surrounding the land holdings of the Ford Motor Company, including the Ford Rouge Plant and the Ford World Headquarters. The port city of Wyandotte was also established early in the century as a major shipbuilding center. This stable city maintains its own gas, electricity, water and sewer service. Highland Park and Hamtramck are urban cites that exist independently within the city of Detroit boundaries and share many of the same distressed economic conditions of Detroit. :: The remaining communities within the county vary greatly in land size, population, wealth, and industry, as described in the economic section of this document. Generally speaking, however, most fall within the classifications that were devised for this report. These are stable, established, growing, and distressed. :: Stable communities are those that developed primarily during the 20th century have not experienced more than 10 percent loss of population - and, more importantly, have not experienced a high loss of households. The communities are primarily comprised of middle-income households and show low unemployment. Employment centers, including industrial complexes are also stable, and in some cases, expanding in these communities. While stable communities may not have the highest needs of Wayne County, in many cases the city infrastructure may be deteriorated or no longer adequate to attract new industry at the same rate as "greenfield" communities. With little undeveloped land available to attract new development, stable communities must bear the burden of redeveloping brownfield sites. :: Established communities are those that were primarily built prior to 1950 as bedroom suburbs to Detroit and have maintained the highest percentage of wealth in the County. Little, if any employment centers other than major hospitals, service and retail businesses are located in these communities. Due to the high tax base on larger per capita wealth of established communities, the schools systems, infrastructure, and municipal services of established communities are often superior to other Wayne County communities. :: Growing communities are those located in the outermost ring of suburban and rural communities in the county that have gained in population and households since the 1960s. These new communities tend to attract higher income households by virtue of the large lot sizes and newly constructed homes. Business attraction, shopping mall development and new industry continue to sprawl out to these "greenfield" communities due in part to lower land costs, ease of construction, and newer infrastructure. Problems related to growth include insufficient road and utility systems and the tax burden of building new community facilities, such as schools and recreational programming. |
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