Thursday, June 28, 2007
Pittsburgh Population Count Slides Again
The Census Bureau estimates for city and town population counts as of July 1, 2006 have just been released. The City of Pittsburgh shows a 1.1 percent drop from 316.7k to 312.8k from 2005 to last year. If the City continues to lose 1 percent of its population a year through 2010, it will fall below 300,000 at the start of the next decade.
It would not be a surprise to see Pittsburgh—now the 57th largest city in the nation—to be overtaken by one or two of the cities close on its heels, Bakersfield (CA), Aurora (CO), or Riverside (CA).
Pittsburgh’s percentage loss was exceeded by Cleveland, which fell 1.4 percent from 2005 to 2006, as well as Detroit (-1.4%) and St. Louis (-1.5%).
An especially troubling aspect of the City’s continued decline is that projected expenditures are expected to rise from $427 million now to $470 million in 2011. That implies even higher per capita spending for a shrinking City.
It would not be a surprise to see Pittsburgh—now the 57th largest city in the nation—to be overtaken by one or two of the cities close on its heels, Bakersfield (CA), Aurora (CO), or Riverside (CA).
Pittsburgh’s percentage loss was exceeded by Cleveland, which fell 1.4 percent from 2005 to 2006, as well as Detroit (-1.4%) and St. Louis (-1.5%).
An especially troubling aspect of the City’s continued decline is that projected expenditures are expected to rise from $427 million now to $470 million in 2011. That implies even higher per capita spending for a shrinking City.
