ABSTRACT
Michigan is the eighth most populous state in the United States and ranks third behind Illinois and Ohio among the twelve north-central states. The distribution and density patterns of the population were established when industry became dominant in Michigan in the early 1900s, and they have remained essentially the same in gross character since that time. Population growth has characterized the development of the United States, and Michigan is no exception. Oakland County is a good example of the dynamics of population change in the predominantly urban portions of Michigan. Although Michigan has large sparsely populated rural areas, the bulk of the people live in urban areas. In 1978, 81.3 percent of the population was classified as urban, and 28.7 percent as rural. " In fact, the combined population of the three counties of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb—4,043,633—is larger than the total population of thirty-six states of the union.
