Get a gander at this map: Which counties are hot in Michigan?

Wayne County last year saw its smallest decline in total population in more than two decades, losing 2,982 residents between July 2016 and July 2017, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

That's just a 0.2% overall drop, the smallest in Wayne County's annual population decline since 1997.

"The story behind Wayne County's losses remains the same — more people leaving than moving in," said demographer Kurt Metzger.

Births and deaths change very little each year, so population change is based largely on migration patterns, Metzger explained. Last year, Wayne County lost a net of about 8,000 people to migration, the lowest since 2000, according to Metzger.

Statewide, two-thirds of Michigan counties added residents in 2017 compared with just under half a year earlier. The three counties with the largest gains last year were Kent, Oakland and Macomb.

Kent County added 5,685 people — a growth rate of 0.9% to 648,594 residents

Oakland County gained 5,074 people — an increase of 0.4% to 1,250,836 residents.

Macomb County added 3,872 people — an increase of 0.5% to 871,375 residents.

Macomb was the only county among the top three with more people moving in from other parts of the U.S. than moving out. Macomb benefited from domestic migration from Oakland and Wayne counties, Metzger said.

"When looking for more house for less money in the metro area, people are moving to Macomb," he said.

The metro Detroit area added about 7,000 people — an increase of 0.2% last year — to 4,313,002. Continued population growth in Livingston, Macomb and Oakland counties helped to offset losses in St. Clair and Wayne. Lapeer County remained relatively flat at 88,174. The county added 33 residents, according to census estimates.

On the east side of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula — particularly in counties that hug the Lake Huron coastline —population losses were common year over year.

On the west side of lower Michigan, population gains were more likely. The Grand Rapids metro area —- Barry, Kent, Montcalm and Ottawa counties — added just more than 10,000 residents, for a total population of 1,059,113 last year. The region’s growth rate was one of the fastest at 1%.

The Michigan county with the fewest residents, Keweenaw, lost nearly 2% of its residents, leaving just 2,105 people in the Upper Peninsula county.

Across the country, there are more than 3,100 counties ranging from the 88 people living in remote Kalawao County, Hawaii, (infamous for its leper colony) to the more than 10 million people jammed into Los Angeles County, Calif.

The median county in the U.S. had about 26,000 residents — meaning half of the counties had a population above that figure and half were below.

Most of the counties in the nation gained population, 57% in 2017 compared with 53% in 2016, according to the census. Gains could be found in the South and West.

Texas had six of the 10 counties that gained the most people.

Among the nation’s 44 counties with a million or more residents, only five besides Wayne County lost population. They were Cook County (Chicago), Ill.; Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Ohio; Allegheny (Pittsburgh), Pa., and Kings (Brooklyn) and Suffolk (Long Island) in New York.

Database: Search the latest U.S. county population estimates

Read more:

Say hello to more Michiganders! Population rises for sixth straight year

Contact Krist Tanner: 313-222-8877 or ktanner@freepress.com.