HOUGHTON — The Upper Peninsula population declined overall in 2020 census figures, with Houghton County the only U.P. county to gain people over the past decade.

The biggest driver of the Houghton County gain was the city of Houghton, which gained 682 people, up 8.9% from 2010. It was one of four cities in the Upper Peninsula to gain residents in that span.

“It was certainly a bright spot,” said City Manager Eric Waara.

In 2020, Houghton worked with The Marketing Department on a public awareness campaign for the census, Waara said. The city also worked with Michigan Technological University to make students aware of the census and to fill it out as a Houghton resident. Census guidelines ask for people to list their residence as the place they spent the majority of the past calendar year.

“A lot of places did that, but we seemed to hit it really hard,” Waara said.

Houghton’s population jump means it will get more money through the state’s revenue-sharing formula.

“Our road funding will go up by a significant percentage, which means we can do a better job taking care of the roads,” he said.

Houghton County rose 733 people to 37,361 (2.2%). Two Copper Country counties were among the state’s six steepest drops: Ontonagon (-14.2%, to 5,816) and Baraga (-7.9%, to 8,158).

Keweenaw County dropped 5.1% to 2,046. The U.P. as a whole lost 9,753 people, dropping 3%.

The U.P. also got older. Children made up a lower percentage than ten years ago in 13 U.P. counties — all but Mackinac and Luce (which shrank by 20% overall, the state’s highest rate). Ontonagon saw the largest drop, falling 4.3 percentage points. The 88.5% adulthood percentage is the highest in Michigan.

While Michigan grew as a whole, the growth was slower than in other parts of the country. The state lost one member of its Congressional delegation, dropping to 13.

The city is working with Team Peninsula as part of an area-wide effort to create economic and population growth in the U.P. Waara said key components will be stopping the population loss, while also raising the median household income in the area.

“You want to see people having more dollars to live better lives,” he said. “And so far, so good: we’ve got one of those checkboxes. I wouldn’t say it’s from that effort, but everybody’s been pulling in that same direction for a while. It’s just we all got together now to pull in force and help each other.”

Maintaining the growth rate over the next 10 years would be a good goal for Houghton, Waara said.

“We’ve seen in other areas, even other parts of the U.P., where a steady incremental growth is good for a community,” he said. “We certainly don’t want to be a big city. There’s a reason why we all live here.”

Part of enabling stable growth will be finding ways to add to the housing stock in the area, Waara said. Home prices have risen locally — both because of increased demand, and because of increased costs of construction due to supply-chain issues.

“To build a $150,000 house, you’re going to have to spend $250,000, and that’s upside down,” he said. “Why would you build a home that’s worth less than you paid for it? And by the same virtue, why would the bank loan you money to do that?”

As residents age, one option developers are looking at are multi-family developments, from duplexes to condominiums, that would allow people to stay in the area without having to maintain a home, Waara said. That could have a domino effect on the housing market, Waara said.

“It could very well be that another family gets to move into that house and build a life there, and that house that that family left, someone else gets to move into it,” he said.

Adding people in Houghton makes it more likely to pop up on the radar of larger businesses, which weigh factors like population and highway traffic when deciding on a new location, Waara said. But bigger chain stores are also at the mercy of larger corporate dynamics; Waara cited the local ShopKo store, which closed despite its profitability when ShopKo declared bankruptcy. The future of the area lies with local or regional businesses, Waara said.

“Those are the ones you really need to look at because they can pivot and change with the times, and that’s going to help them stay in business as opposed to, you know, the precious nature of the corporate world,” he said.