A Hallmark Neighborhood
Hallmark movies are a staple of the holiday months. Quite a few of them have the typical plot of having someone move from the city to the smaller town. This troupe then leads the main characters to cross paths more often, while in the small town. But, what really drives those love tales?
Community within the small town. Often they have family or friends they have not seen because of; the whole move off to the big city to chase a dream plot line. Then this other character introduces them to the other character that can solve all of the issues the main character had!
This Business Insider article shares some stories of current experiences of people who have moved in and out of the urban environment. The main theme of the changes was not about the environment itself, but the community that develops or evaporates based on the environment. Grand Rapids is prime for developing this type of community that nurtures success!
I would love to see more Hallmark tales in Grand Rapids, with lots of local community, working together to solve problems!
People want to live in Grand Rapids! A city does not have the nation's hottest house market for several years in a row because everyone is leaving it! According to the 2010 and 2020 Census. Keep in mind that this data is from 2020, when reviewing the data below!
2010 Census data- 1,054,463 people combined.
2020 Census Data- 1,153,091 people combined.
Well that is nice that the population increased, but what is the population pyramid showing?
Grand Rapids is a young city!
Compared to the surrounding counties.
Data for; Kent County, Ottawa County, Ionia County, Muskegon County, Allegan County, Montcalm County, Barry County.
The scatterplot below shows the differences between Grand Rapids and the average of the surrounding counties on several key factors.
Average is calculated using data for; Kent County, Ottawa County, Ionia County, Muskegon County, Allegan County, Montcalm County, Barry County.
Below is chart of several metrics that compare GR to the surrounding counties. The main take away from this data is that GR is a rental dominated market still!
-Anna Carley
