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Imagine if decisions about schools, housing and public safety in your city were shaped by your experiences and input, not just the loudest voices at city council meetings. Thanks to the University of Michigan’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study, or DMACS, that vision is becoming a reality.

The surveys and data DMACS provide enable city leaders to hear directly from residents about their everyday needs and priorities.

Now in its 10th year, DMACS surveys more than 2,000 Detroit residents annually about their priorities and lived experiences. By co-creating the surveys with local partners, including city government, philanthropy and nonprofits, DMACS ensures resident voices reach leaders to inform decision-making.

“We’re committed to making sure Detroiters’ voices drive the decisions that shape their city,” said Mara Ostfeld, DMACS’s co-director and research associate professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

“That means working hand-in-hand with Detroit’s leaders, including the mayor’s office, eviction defense funds, community violence intervention organizations, and those driving innovations in land use, water management, and transportation. It’s a chance to learn what’s top-of-mind for Detroiters.”

Turning insights into action 

The statistics DMACS provides are an entry point into vital conversations about how Detroit functions and who the city serves, Ostfeld said.

For instance, the 2023 DMACS survey showed that 39% of Detroiters used grocery home delivery. That data correlates with survey results that show Detroit residents also have transportation challenges and that many need some nutrition assistance.

“Far too many communities are excluded from policy debates — not because they don’t care, but because they haven’t been asked, or don’t know how to make their voices heard,” said Jeffrey Morenoff, a professor of public policy at the Ford School, who co-founded DMACS with Elisabeth Gerber, a professor of public policy at the Ford School.

DMACS since 2016

• 22 surveys
• 40+ academic papers
• 45+ published reports
• 525+ media citations
• 5,000+ Detroiters’ voices represented
• Expanded and produced seven surveys for three additional communities—Ypsilanti, Flint, and Grand Rapids—as the Michigan Metro Area Communities Study.
• Impacted millions in public and philanthropic investment

Housing — finding an affordable place to live, keeping up with rent or a mortgage, and paying utilities, taxes and insurance — is top of mind for Detroiters, and the 2025 DMACS survey on top household challenges backs this up.

Nearly half of Detroiters (49%) say they view taking out a mortgage or loan as financially risky.

As the city works to expand homeownership and ease the housing challenges confronting many Detroiters, the growing reliance on land contracts — arrangements in which buyers purchase directly from sellers and bypass traditional mortgages — highlights a need to consider alternatives to conventional lending models to meet residents’ housing needs.

Because DMACS co-develops survey questions with its partners, they are able to target specific issues the partner wants to address. Organizations such as Poverty Solutions at U-M, the Detroit Health Department, and a host of local nonprofits are currently using DMACS’ insights to guide investments, advocate for legal reform, and support citywide responses to issues from economic instability to public health.

DMACS data also informed the Detroit City Council’s resolution supporting the National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2021, which spotlighted Detroiters’ housing cost burdens. 

And evidence from DMACS shaped a $12 million Gilbert Family Foundation investment in the Detroit Eviction Defense Fund, securing legal help for thousands of families facing eviction.

Guiding journalism

Through an ongoing partnership with Outlier Media, DMACS is also changing how issues are covered in the media. The nonprofit newsroom is designed to center and respond to Detroiters’ needs, matching coverage to information gaps and improving accountability.

“Most newsrooms let editors determine what’s newsworthy,” said Sarah Alvarez, founder of Outlier Media.

“Partnering with DMACS means we can align our resources with community needs. It’s transformational for our newsroom — DMACS brought systematic, community-driven data that newsrooms like ours simply couldn’t collect and track over time on our own. And now we’re covering the issues that residents actually face, not just what the media assumes is important.”

Before recent elections, DMACS and Outlier Media teamed up to dig into voters’ motivations and priorities: Why are people voting or not voting? What matters most to them? The findings inspired Outlier’s ‘Know Your Mayors’ quiz, so voters and candidates were both more informed and more responsive.

The survey has also changed the narrative about Detroiters.

“Local election turnout is historically very low in Detroit, which has led to people believing Detroiters are not civically engaged,” Alvarez said. “But what DMACS shows is that people are incredibly involved — in their churches, on their blocks, donating time and money. They tend to trust their neighbors more than elected officials.”

In the lead-up to the 2024 elections, the reports DMACS compiled on Detroiters’ priorities for federal and local government — as well as their voting habits — garnered citywide and national media coverage, spotlighting what matters most to local residents.

“It’s not about surveying our way to a story, Alvarez said. “It’s about aligning our journalism with what Detroiters actually need and experience, so we can make a more meaningful difference.”

Where it all began

The idea for DMACS originated in 1951 with the Detroit Area Study, or DAS, which offered training for students and produced research that shaped the scholarship in sociology and public policy. Over five decades, DAS data inspired dozens of books, dissertations, articles, and conference papers — and more than 1,200 students trained through the program, taking what they learned into fields as diverse as sociology, public policy, and community organizing.

In 2016, DAS was reimagined by Gerber and Morenoff into DMACS to recognize the need for insights to reach city leaders and residents, and turn engagement into action.

Its first survey of Detroiters in 2016 included 714 residents. Today, DMACS regularly hears from over 2,000 residents per survey. This expanded reach allows researchers and partners to analyze citywide trends and also to zoom in — by age group, neighborhood, or socioeconomic status — to spotlight issues like the urgent need for road improvements in southeast Detroit.

Building on its Detroit success, in 2022, DMACS also expanded its partnerships to Flint, Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids.

“Our survey never stands still. We’re always refining questions, expanding our sample, and listening to partners so we can remain truly relevant to the community,” Ostfeld said.

DMACS also has deep roots at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR). ISR co-founder Angus Campbell and Population Studies Center (PSC) founder Ronald Freedman first proposed the Detroit Area Study as a way to train students in social science and survey techniques. DMACS co-founder Jeffrey Morenoff is an affiliate and former director of PSC, and Mara Ostfeld is an associate research professor at the Center for Political Studies.

Contact: Rebecca Cohen

To partner with DMACS Contact Sharon Sand at [email protected]