Best of Series: Little Big Town

Posted by – Steve Cohen, Director of Community Development

End of Summer “Best of Series” / Blog Originally Posted on May 21, 2012

I often find that people are surprised when I tell them that the population of the City of Auburn Hills is 21,412 people.

Their reaction is often … “Really!  Wow, I thought it was much bigger?”  I just smile and say, “Well, we’re kind of like a little big town.”

The City is 17.5 square miles in size, which is a little less than half the land area of a typical Michigan township.  It successfully merges the “polar opposite” and diverse cultures of a small town and a regional destination together like few places in the nation.

People assume our City has a larger population because it’s an employment center, college town, entertainment hub, and retail shopping mecca.  Our day-time population has been conservatively estimated by statisticians to triple to 65,000 people on typical days.  Anecdotally, we believe this number is often much higher on days when all our regional venues are operating on full cylinders.  Few municipalities our size face the logistical demands on services we experience.  That’s a lot of people coming to, hanging out, and leaving our small place – often all at the same time.

As a little background, the City is home to just under 10,000 residential units – about 50% of the units are owner-occupied homes and condos, with the other 50% being rental apartments and mobile homes.  The percentage of our housing stock as rental units is double the typical community in Southeast Michigan.  A large segment of our population choose to live in our community for only a short duration due to job assignments or financial reasons; while you will find an equal number of long-time residents who remember when we used to be Pontiac Township.

People are amazed that our entire population can fit into The Palace of Auburn Hills to watch a Justin Bieber concert.  The Chrysler Group Headquarters and Technical Center is big enough to house all the working age adults living in our town.  All of our residents could feasibly leave home at the same time, park, and shop at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets and associated retail shops.

The City of Auburn Hills is an amazing “hybrid” community – a small town and regional destination successfully coexisting and thriving together.  Kind of like a “little big town.” Few municipalities are like us, which makes us special.