City Council Elections by District

Current Information

City Council passed Option 3 as the official City Council District Map on February 16, 2012. Council also changed the District numbering labels to new numbers. D3 has produced for free a snapshot of the current Districts.

Data Driven Detroit’s profile of current Council districts is available to download.

Approved Detroit City Council Districts

Download the geography file for the New Districts from the Detroit Data Collaborative website.

Archived Information

This following is an archive of the work that D3 and others performed before the Council vote on February 16, 2012.

Currently, Detroit City Council members are elected at-large.  However, the Detroit Charter (also see DetCharter.com) has been modified to require districts, and new apportionment of City Council seats needs to take place.  Data Driven Detroit is informing the process with demographic data and analysis; see our Building a Better District Map article. We were not involved in drawing the district lines for the 4 official Options, that lies with City Council and City Planning Commission Staff. We are supporting the public process with pertinent data, mapping, analysis, this resource webpage and a newsletter article. We feel strongly that neighborhoods, communities, and place-based initiatives should not be adversely divided by political boundaries (see our newsletter article.) Thus, D3 has created an Option 5 which attempts to hold harmless neighborhoods from the legal requirements process (equal population, compactness and contiguity). Its guides are major streets, freeways and rail lines.


View the Options Interactively



D3′s Option Five with Precincts – Option 5p


D3 has submitted a “new” map to City Council – Option 5p – the precinct compliant plan. It is unfortunate, but due to legal shortsightedness and a bureaucratic process, we have slightly modified our proposed neighborhood centric map from Census block lines to Department of Elections’ proposed precincts. Our intent of protecting neighborhoods has not changed, but some of the boundaries have moved to accommodate precinct lines.

Option 5p – Population Report Download

Option 5p – Compactness Report Download

Option 5p – Easy Print Map Download

Option 5p – Map Download


D3 Analysis of the Five Options


Neighborhoods (Cityscape) and proposed district boundaries  (PDF with Layers)
Option 1   Option 2   Option 3   Option 4   Option 5

Neighborhoods (Cityscape) and proposed district boundaries with Major Roads & Freeways (PDF with Layers)
Option 1   Option 2   Option 3   Option 4   Option 5

Options 1 through 5 as single maps (for printing)
Option 1   Option 2   Option 3   Option 4   Option 5

Data Matrix of Population and Deviation Analysis for all 5 Options   PDF    XLS

Compactness Matrix of 5 Tests for Compactness for all 5 Options   PDF   XLS

Graph Reports (PDF)  Option 1     Option 2     Option 3     Option 4    Option 5

Data Summary PL File: Race, Hispanic, Voting Age, and Housing for all 5 Options  XLS

Data Summary ACS File: Income, Education, Poverty for all 5 Options

Disclaimer: This is an approximation analysis from Census Block Group data whose lines do not follow the Options Districts.   XLS

Incumbent City Council Members locations (August, 2011) PDF

Detroit Historic Districts – List with Option that selects them  PDF   Historic Link

Detroit Neighborhood Map  PDF   CityScape Link   Wiki Link

Detroit Public and Private Investment Program Areas  PDF (with Layers)

Detroit Community Development Organizations (CDOs) – from CDAD Draft (July, 2011) PDF

Master Plan “Neighborhoods” and Neighborhoods (Cityscape) boundaries PDF  (with Layers)   with Roads

Detroit Election Precincts  PDF (with Layers)   GIS_SHP

All 5 Options in GIS shape files GIS_SHP


Other Relevant Maps


Dot Maps for Race and Ancestry

City Government Maps

January 23, 2012 Maps from City Council website created by City Planning Commission Staff

Option 1     Option 2   Option 3      Option 4

January 22, 2012  PDF Preliminary Draft Maps

January 20, 2012 PDF Preliminary Draft Maps from City published in Riley Article


Maps of the Four Official Options


The following maps are from the Detroit Free Press based on the January 23, 2012 City Planning Commission’s 4 maps presented to City Council

Option 1 OPTION 1 Option 2 OPTION 2

Option 3 OPTION 3 Option 4OPTION 4

Other Relevant Maps

August, 2010  Large City Map of Suggested Districts    Blank Map to design your own Districts  Previous work by Rochelle Riley (in collaboration from Vince Keenan and Kurt Metzger) is re-published here with permission from the Free Press.

May, 2011  Wayne County Apportionment Commission – D3 was the Technical Consultant for the Commission. There are County wide maps and data here under Staff Plans.

Download the D3 Apportionment Map Packets:

1) State Congressional Plan  2) MCRC Congressional Plan  3) Michigan Senate Plan  4) Michigan House Plan


City Government Documents



Media Coverage


February 17, 2012 Freep – Editorial: An inferior council map emerges from a flawed process

February 17, 2012 WDET – Craig Fahle: Panel Discussion: Detroit City Council District Maps   Podcast

February 17, 2012 Freep – Steve Neavling: Detroit City Council’s district map splits up growing areas

February 17, 2012 Crain’s – Nancy Kaffer: New Detroit City Council districts give downtown, Midtown 2 of 9 seats

February 17, 2012 HuffPost – Simone Landon: Detroit City Council Districts Chosen, Council Votes For Option 3

February 17, 2012 News – Darren Nichol: Detroit City Council selects district map

February 17, 2012 MI Radio – Sarah Cwiek: Detroit Council districts: And the winner is …Option 3

February 17, 2012 Freep – Matt Helms & Steve Neavling: Different areas of Detroit now have a stake in each other

February 16, 2012 City Council passed Option 3 as the Official City Districts

February 16, 2012 Freep – Detroit: Headlines – vote today

February 12, 2012 MI Citizen – Marcus Wright: Detroiters want to keep neighborhoods intact

February 10, 2012 HuffPost – Simone Landon: Detroit City Council District Maps: ‘Option 5′ Gains Momentum

February 9, 2012 Detroit 2020 – Dividing Detroit Into Council Districts

February 08, 2012 MLive – Jeff T. Wattrick: Detroit City Council districting: Competing proposals weigh splitting downtown, dividing assets and ensuring everyone has a voice

February 7, 2012 Fox – Support for ‘Fifth’ Detroit Council District Map in SW Detroit

February 7, 2012 HuffPost – Gary A. Brown: Detroit Citizens Key to Defining the Council Districts

February 3, 2012 Freep – Stephen Henderson: A smarter council district map links neighborhoods

February 3, 2012 Freep – Map: Data Driven Detroit’s proposed map of neighborhood-based city council districts

February 3, 2012 Freep – Cecil Angel: Detroiters focus on keeping community groups together in council districts debate

February 3, 2012  News – Steve Pardo: Detroit City Council, citizens meet on districts

February 3, 2012 CBS – Public Comments Gathered On ‘Council By District’ Proposal

January 31, 2012 Model D – Vince Keenan: Drawing lines for Detroit neighborhood democracy

January 31, 2012 HuffPost – Patricia Lesko: Will Districts Resolve the Democratic Deficit in Detroit, or Encourage Political Empire Building?

January 30, 2012 WDET – Craig Fahle: New Detroit District Councils

January 29, 2012 Freep – Kurt Metzger: Options are good starting points, but need to be refined

January 29, 2012 Freep – Rochelle Riley: New districts could launch better future

January 29, 2012 Freep – Vince Keenan: It’s imperative Detroiters give their feedback — now

January 29, 2012 Freep – Jenice Mitchell Ford: Option 3 better complies with City Charter

January 29, 2012 Freep – Ken Coleman: Option 4 best geographically diverse option

January 29, 2012 Freep – Stephen Henderson: Any of 4 district plans will make City Council more responsive

January 29, 2012 Michigan Citizen – Marcus Wright: New council districts raise concerns

January 26, 2012 HuffPost – Detroit District Maps: Vote For Your Favorite

January 25, 2012 Freep – Detroit City Council district maps by Race and Age, also Incumbent locations

January 25, 2012 Freep – Detroit residents hope new council districts will bring changes

January 24, 2012 News – District proposals to upend Detroit City Council

January 23, 2012 News – Proposed Detroit City Council districts unveiled

January 30, 2012 WDET – Craig Fahle: The How of Redrawing Detroit Council Districts

January 22, 2012 Crain’s – Should council split downtown?

January 22, 2012 Feeep – Rochelle Riley: Pay attention Detroit as council districts are drawn

January 20, 2012 Freep – Rochelle Riley: Detroiters will be able to weigh in on 4 maps to redraw city council districts

Support for ‘Fifth’ Detroit Council District Map in SW Detroit: MyFoxDETROIT.com


Additional Resources