This paper studies the large time behavior of solutions to the 2D micropolar equations with linear damping velocity. It is proven that the global solutions have rapid time decay rates ∥∇ω∥L2+∥∇u∥L2≤C(1+t)−32 and ∥u∥L2≤C(1+t)−32,∥ω∥L2≤C(1+t)−1. The findings are mainly based on the new observation that linear damping actually improves the low-frequency effect of the system. The methods here are also available for complex fluid models with linear damping structures.