[hudkina]

I'm not saying that Phoenix won't grow into a city of 5 or 6 million within the next several decades, I'm just saying that Detroit's metro while slow-growing will continue to grow through "annexation" of adjacent metros rather than raw population growth keeping it on pace with Phoenix. And while Detroit isn't growing as extremely fast as sunbelt cities, it's not dying, nor will it ever die. Boston just recently "added" 2 million people to its metro by absorbing Providence. In the last census Washington added over 2 million people to its metro by absorbing Baltimore. Dallas absorbed Fort Worth, San Francisco absorbed San Jose, Miami absorbed Fort Lauderdale, etc. Detroit will follow suit by absorbing adjacent metros.

Southeast Michigan has a large collection of medium-sized and large cities. Currently they are fractured into several different metros but over the next several decades they will continue to grow together. There are 20 counties in Southeast Michigan and Northern Ohio that are highly connected through commuter rates, television markets, sports teams, and general proximity. Those 20 counties had a population of 6,838,000 in 2000 and included Detroit-Ann Arbor (5 million), Toledo (660,000), Lansing (520,000), Flint (440,000), Jackson (160,000), and Adrian (100,000). In total they cover an area of about 12,100 sq. mi. which is still several thousand square miles smaller than the Phoenix MSA's area of 14,600 sq. mi. or the 14,100 sq. mi. that cover Dallas's current CSA.

By 2010, those twenty counties should have over 7 million people and who knows where they'll be by 2020 or 2030. In any case, Detroit will still be a top metro for decades to come.