Kurt Metzger, director of the Michigan Information Center at Wayne State University, commented about growing diversity in Harper Woods. In 1990, only 132 of Harper Woods' 14, 903 residents were black. A decade later, the city's population dropped to 14,254 and the number of blacks grew to 1,449. Metzger says the steady increase of the black population in Harper Woods is part of a larger trend among other near east side suburbs, particularly Eastpointe, Warren and Fraser.