William Frey

William H. Frey is a Ph.D. demographer and sociologist specializing in U.S. demographics. He is currently a Senior Fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC and Research Professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. Dr. Frey received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1974. In 1980-81 he was a Visiting Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Austria); in 1988 the Andrew W. Mellon Research Scholar at the Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC; and in 1995, Hewlett Visiting Scholar at Child Trends in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Frey has written widely on issues relating to migration, population redistribution, and the demography of metropolitan areas. He has authored well over 100 publications and several books including Regional and Metropolitan Growth and Decline in the US (Russell Sage, 1988, with Alden Speare, Jr); and America By the Numbers: A Fieldguide to the US Population (The New Press, 2001 with Bill Abresch and Jonathan Yeasting). At Michigan he has directed projects with the National Science Foundation, NICHD Center for Population Research, NIA, and several foundations. He has contributed to the 1995 President’s National Urban Policy Report, to HUD’s State of the Cities 2000 report, to the Russell Sage Foundation’s Census research series in 1980 and 1990, and has been consultant to the US Census Bureau on migration research and publications. He served as contributing editor to American Demographics magazine.

Dr. Frey has also been active in creating demographic media for use by educators, policy makers and the general public.