For decades Oakland County has been labelled one of America’s richest counties, No more! Mirroring Michigan’s precipitous economic decline since 1999, Oakland County has fallen in per capita income from 21st in 1999 to 122 in 2024. You read that right, more than 100 countries have passed Oakland County in a quarter century
In 1999 Oakland County’s per capita income was 55 percent above the nation’s. In 2024 it was 28 percent above. If Oakland County’s per capita income were still 55 percent above each person in Oakland County would have $20,000 more income.
Oakland County’s fall is largely due to metro Detroit going from a high prosperity region to a low prosperity region over the last 25 years.In 1999 metro Detroit’s per capita income was 12 percent above the nation’s, in 2023 (latest available data) it was 4 percent below. .
Fifty one counties with a population of 200,000 or more now have a per capita income above Oakland’s. Thirty six of them of them passed Oakland County since 1999. Almost all are the richest county(s) in a big metro with per capita income higher than metro Detroit. Mainly suburban, but some with the central city included. Metro New York City, San Francisco, Nashville, Washington D.C., Boston, Denver, Philadelphia and Chicago have multiple counties more prosperous than Oakland.
In the Great Lakes Oakland County now is last among the highest per capita income counties in each state with population of 200,000 or more. Metro Chicago has two more prosperous counties:
- Hamilton (metro Indianapolis): $104,283
- Lake (metro Chicago): $103,546
- Hennepin (metro Minneapolis): $100,352
- DuPage (metro Chicago): $98,481
- Delaware (metro Columbus): $96,573
- Waukesha (metro Milwaukee): $94,831
- Oakland (metro Detroit): $93,579
In 1999 only DuPage County on this list was more prosperous than Oakland County.
What are the common characteristics of the 51 counties with a population of 200,000 or more that are now more prosperous than Oakland? Prosperous large population counties are predominantly from regions with a high proportion of high wage households. Plus, mainly in Florida, counties with a high proportion of high net worth retirees. Leaving aside those whose prosperity is retiree driven, prosperous counties, like prosperous states, are characterized by being in regions that are knowledge economy concentrated and have a high proportion of adults with a BA or more. Metro Detroit is laggard among big metros in both.
Oakland County is still Michigan’s most prosperous county. Its steep decline is the best evidence that Michigan’s economic well being collapse this last quarter of a century is an all state problem. Not just, as conventional wisdom has it, a result of steep declines in Michigan’s high low income and high minority counties. Yes those counties have declined steeply. But so have our most prosperous counties. It is far past time for alarm bells and for Michigan to adopt a new, big change, economic agenda.
