PODCAST:
May 20, 2026 ~ Bridge Michigan’s Jordyn Hermani joins Kevin Dietz to discuss Michigan’s population getting older and what it means for the state.
LANSING, MICH. ~ As of 2024, one-third of Michigan residents were over the age of 55. With 22% of Michigan’s population ages 16 and up having already retired, demographers worry about the rate at which young workers in the state can replace the rapidly growing number of retirees.
“We are not having enough in-migration or people being born to offset people leaving the labor force,” Bridge Michigan’s Jordyn Hermani, in partnership with 760 WJR, said on All Talk. “And despite seeing positive population growth for the first time in decades, it is just a very stark warning that we need to figure out how to get more young people interested in having families in Michigan.”
An industry that is already feeling the effects of a declining workforce is manufacturing, while healthcare for elders will become more of an issue as the population continues to age.
As the job and housing markets become increasingly tight for young graduates that want to live and start a family in the state, political officials like State Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford) have come up with ideas like changing property tax rates, yet the problem is so wide-ranging that the answer is probably not that simple.
