GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Rachel Gray could've lived anywhere in the world, but chose to make West Michigan her home.
"I mean, I could really see the opportunity," Gray said. "I could see how much there was access for myself as a young professional. I think that was another really big piece is this was a community that I could dig into and make a difference if I wanted to."
After attending college in the area, Gray chose to stay.
Now 32, Gray makes a living encouraging others to stay as well, working as executive director of Hello West Michigan.
"This is not just copy that is written by an agency saying, 'We're a great place to live, work and play, we're a vibrant, magnetic community,'" Gray said. "No, I can tell you about the places where I go spend my Friday evenings or my Saturday mornings."
State officials are hoping to attract many more like Gray as Michigan faces a population situation.
A slow growth rate in the 2010s cost Michigan a congressional seat after the 2020 census, and almost 15,000 residents moving to other states the year after.
West Michigan, however, bucking the trend.
"When you look at Kent, Ottawa and Allegan counties and their growth from 2010 to 2020, those counties grew more than 10 percent during that decade," Gray said. "That's almost 90,000 people that our counties in West Michigan and have gained."
It's a trend the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce attributes in part to close partnership between public and private leaders.
"We hear from other communities and the other chambers or other business leaders on other sides of the state that they don't have that level of involvement and engagement," said Vice President of Government Affairs for the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce Joshua Lunger. "And that's been something that's really helped us get places."
Other experts saying its a result of a focus on younger generations.
"We have more people in their thirties than we do over the age of 65 here in Kent County," said Paul Isely, the Associate Dean of Grand Valley State University's Seidman College of Business. "That is generating and a lot of human capital, is what we call in economics that allows us to increase the size of our businesses and allows us to grow."
Leaders hoping West Michigan can be a model as the state hopes to reverse the worrying statewide trend.
"The next 20 years are gonna be defined by the decisions we make in the next five," Lunger said. "And we want to make sure that our business leaders are engaged in that and that we're continuing that strong history of public private partnership to get it done."