Reynolds Farley

Adjunct faculty

Walter Reynolds Farley

Lecturer; Professor Emeritus of Sociology

Reynolds Farley is a research scientist at the Population Studies Center, the Dudley Duncan Professor Emeritus of Sociology, and a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Farley's research interests concern population trends in the…

In the Media

Farley comments on lack of foreign-born, out-of-state transplants in Michigan

Dec 7, 2023

Reynolds Farley, The Detroit News: Michigan's closest international border is Canada, which doesn't send a lot of immigrants to the U.S. each year, said Reynolds Farley, research professor emeritus at the University of Michigan's Population Studies...

Photo of Ren Farley speaking into a megaphone as he leads a tour of U-M students in downtown Detroit

In the Media

Farley comments on shrinking Michigan population

Jan 19, 2023 The Detroit News

The Detroit News: "We have a rather elderly population here in Michigan," said Reynolds Farley, research professor emeritus at the University of Michigan's Population Studies Center. "We've been losing people to other states for almost 20 years, and...

In the Media

Steep drop in Detroit housing units seems 'quite implausible' - Farley

Sep 23, 2022 Bridge Detroit

Census data shows that more Detroiters own homes than are renting. But, Ren Farley, lecturer at the Ford School, says that data could be flawed due to an undercount in Detroit. “(Hurricane) Katrina didn’t come through Detroit,” Farley said....

News

Morenoff Senate testimony highlights discrepancies in 2020 Detroit Census

Jul 26, 2022

The results of the 2020 Census have generated debate across the country, but perhaps nowhere as intensely as in Detroit. Michigan’s largest city, which has an overwhelming majority of African American and Hispanic residents combined of 85%, may have...

Jeffrey Morenoff testifying to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

News

Farley breaks down 2020 Census

Apr 13, 2022

Last week, the city of Detroit filed a claim with the Census Bureau, arguing its residents were undercounted in 2020. Ford School lecturer Reynolds Farley discussed the undercount. “This census was deficient in Detroit,” he said. “They didn’t...

In the Media

Farley breaks down population trends following pandemic

Mar 25, 2022 News Nation

The COVID-19 pandemic made big cities less attractive, with no events to attend or restaurants to sample. Reynolds Farley, a research scientist at the Population Studies Center, discussed the trend. “Cities growing and declining, that’s strongly...

In the Media

Farley describes impact of falling birth rate in Michigan

Jan 26, 2022 The Detroit News

For the first time since 1900, Michigan's death rate is higher than its birth rate. This could impact everything from the economy to political power to school districts. "Having a smaller population is not inherently bad, but adjusting to that...

News

Ford School faculty named among “Top 2% Scientists”

Jan 26, 2022

Stanford University named 16 Ford School faculty on their “Top 2% Scientists” list, representing the most-cited scientists with career and single-year impact in various disciplines. The faculty researchers join over 180,000 scientists...

In the Media

Farley explains decrease in Michigan population

Aug 16, 2021 Michigan Radio

The state of Michigan has again seen a population decrease following the release of the 2020 census, resulting in a loss of another congressional district. Reynolds Farley, research scientist at the Population Studies Center and a lecturer at the...

News

Michigan's loss of a Congressional district has a variety of impacts - Ford School faculty

Apr 28, 2021

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Michigan will drop from 14 congressional seats to 13 due to sluggish population growth since the last count in 2010. “It does reduce the state’s influence and ability to get things done; not by a lot, but a little...

News

Some Detroit suburbs reckon with history as anti-Black ‘sundown towns’

Jul 20, 2020

An article in Bridge Detroit on July 9 looked at suburbanites engaging with the history and policies of their communities in the wake of Black Lives Matters demonstrations. Some of these suburbs were developed as anti-Black "sundown towns". Ford...

Among the houses in this residential neighborhood, a wall wall erected to segregate by race has been reclaimed and turned into a large community art project.

Big lights, small city: Farley says small cities could be the new frontier for young professionals

May 3, 2019

Large cities are cast as meccas for young professionals, with their migration seen as a cultural inevitability. But with ever-increasing living costs and overcrowding, as well as technological advances that make proximity less of a necessity for...

When retaining a young, creative workforce, Farley says urban amenities are key

Apr 12, 2019

What’s the future for Rust Belt cities? Claire Ballentine of Bloomberg News looks at revitalization projects attempting to answer this question in her April 8, 2019, piece titled “Rust Belt Turns to Munis to Breathe Life Into Old Factories,” talking...

Reynolds Farley offers historical perspective for Nantucket census debate to WSJ

Oct 9, 2018

As we inch further from the warmer months, The Wall Street Journal’s Jo Craven McGinty calls our attention back to Nantucket, a New England summer getaway, and questions of an accurate count of residents on the transient island. Conflicting counts...

State & Hill

Catch up on Ford School faculty news in the Spring 2018 edition of State & Hill magazine

May 21, 2018

Michael Barr and Joe Valenti (Center for American Progress) penned a Fortune op-ed: “How the CFPB fight is a sign of the next financial crisis.” Barr also wrote an op-ed in American Banker: “Dear Congress: Reg relief bill is a giveaway for large...

News

Farley writes “Detroit in bankruptcy: What are the lessons to be learned?” for Detroit book

Dec 4, 2017

Reynolds Farley penned a chapter entitled, "Detroit in bankruptcy: What are the lessons to be learned?" for the 2017 volume Why Detroit Matters: Decline, Renewal, and Hope in a Divided City, edited by Brian Doucet. Introduction Detroit’s city...

Farley in Michigan Daily op-ed: Recognizing U-M diversity during upcoming bicentennial

Oct 31, 2016

Reynolds Farley, in an op-ed for the Michigan Daily, calls on U-M bicentennial planners to recognize and promote diversity around campus through historical markers.Noting that many buildings on campus are named after white men of European origin,...

Ren Farley comments on “Black and white optimism on Detroit-area race relations”

Jul 29, 2016

Reynolds Farley is quoted in a Bridge Magazine piece, reprinted in today's Detroit Free Press, on “Black and white optimism on Detroit-area race relations.” The piece reports on a recent poll by the Detroit Journalism Cooperative that collected...

State & Hill

Ford School faculty news from the spring 2016 edition of State & Hill magazine

May 3, 2016

The Washington Post reports that Robert Axelrod’s The Evolution of Cooperation is one of the ten most assigned books at Ivy League universities. Originally published in 1984, the book explores how cooperation can emerge in a world of self-seeking...