This graph shows the GDP of the Detroit metro area from 2001 to 2017. In 2017, Detroit’s GDP amounted to 260.61 billion U.S. dollars.
Gross domestic product of the Detroit metro area
The Bureau of Economic analysis reported Detroit’s GDP from 2001 to 2016. Over that fifteen year span, GDP rose from 190.92 billion U.S. dollars in 2001 to 252.69 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, dipping in 2009 to 186.18 billion U.S. dollars. Despite a rise in GDP, the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy in July 2013 with debts of approximately 18 billion U.S. dollars. Detroit was the largest municipality to file for bankruptcy since 1953. Second largest was Jefferson County, Alabama, which filed in 2011 with debts of approximately 4.2 billion U.S. dollars.
Detroit was once a major production hub of the American automobile industry, but has since suffered decline as car manufacturers faced international competition and automobile production was moved out of the city. As a result, workers left Detroit and the population fell from a peak of 1,850,000 in 1950. As of 2015, Detroit had a resident population of roughly 677,000 people, ranking 21st on the list of largest U.S. cities. Poverty remains a problem for the city and many buildings remain empty and derelict. Crime rates also indicate the extent of Detroit’s decline. Detroit was the second most dangerous city in America in 2015, with 1,760 crimes per 100,000 residents.
