There are often stories in the news listing the fastest growing metro areas in the US – Texas cities like Austin and San Antonio are frequently mentioned – but, until today, I hadn’t seen a report on which cities were losing residents the fastest.
It comes as no surprise that most of the top ten shrinking cities are in the “Rust Belt” of Michigan and Ohio, but I was surprised at the areas listed as number one and number two.
In second place is Farmington, New Mexico, with a net population loss of 2.8% since it peaked in 2010. No one seems sure why folks are leaving at such a rate - overall income in Farmington isn’t great, but their 6.4% unemployment is well below the national average. The folks doing the study did say that a recent uptick in oil and gas exploration in the area may reverse the trend.
The biggest loser was Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where people have been leaving in droves. Since 2010, they have seen a population drop of 4.4%, and they are down 19.3% since the population peaked in 1980. The study sites low income, high crime and a 10% unemployment rate as reasons for the decline, but the area is no worse than a lot of others that are holding their own. The only sure thing is that a downward spiral is hard to stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment