Posted August 16, 200618 yr The Blade ran an article with 2005 American Community Survey stats, and boy are they UGLY: Columbus: 693,983 Cleveland: 414, 534 Cincinnati: 287,540 Toledo: 285,937 Akron: 200,181 Dayton: 132, 679 Really, a lot of this has to do with plummeting birth rates and shrinking household size, which is a problem in any part of America as immigrant deficient as Ohio. Population of Toledo dips below 300,000 Nearby counties experience growth By KARAMAGI RUJUMBA BLADE STAFF WRITER A gallon of milk cost 34 cents, gasoline cost 18 cents a gallon, and the average annual household income was $1,900 in 1940 - the last time Toledo's population was under 300,000 people. For the first time in more than 60 years, Toledo's population has dipped to 285,937, according to an estimate in the 2005 American Community Survey announced yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Even allowing for the survey's stated margin of error, the city's population would still not exceed 292,000. Blade Staff Writer Tom Troy contributed to this report Contact Karamagi Rujumba at: [email protected], or 419-724-6064. Changes in Northwest Ohio/Southeast Michigan Link to the article http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060816/NEWS16/608160402
August 16, 200618 yr I find it hard to believe that Columbus went from 730,000 to 694,000 in a year. That just sounds ridiculous. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
August 16, 200618 yr Statistically, it's rather impossible to shrink nearly 40,000 in ONE YEAR unless some catostrophic event occurs (re: Katrina). Columbus certainly didn't "decline" in ONE YEAR and trust me, even IF every young person in Columbus stopped "having babies" it is rather ludacrious to suggest it drops 40,000 in such a short time-span. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
August 16, 200618 yr I think these numbers are a bit over exaggerated but the trend is probably accurate. The Blade as usual fails to put emphasis on WHY Toledo and other cities are declining. They continue to insinuate that people are flocking out of these cities, its a little more complicated than that. On a personal note I dont know why Toledo is waiting to annex more land, it will at least make the death slower. BTW I thought the census already came out with 2005 numbers. :?
August 16, 200618 yr ^They did. Thus, my concern over an entirely different survey given rather than Census 2005 stats. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
August 16, 200618 yr I think the Census is just lazy and decided to put "faith" into another controlled survey (which is probably more flawed than the old Census survey). Well, clearly it's flawed if they go from 730,000 to 694,000... "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
August 16, 200618 yr They could have released this "statistics" back right after the last census and said "This is going to be what we estimate the population is going to be in 2005 based on historical data" I don't see these estimates being any better than that. I don't believe much other consideration has taken place. I would be surprised if Akron has lost much if any population in the last 5 years certainly not 10-15,000 less people. They should say this is a rough guesstimate.
August 20, 200618 yr Yeah, I can't see Dayton having lost 34,000 people in 5 years. I mean, at that rate, the city will cease to exist in 25 years.
August 20, 200618 yr Well, I can imagine a drop but such a drastic one would be very noticeable. But, yes, that is good question. How far down can a city decline in population? Is there a bottom or floor to urban population decline and abandonment? I think I read that Butte Montana used to have over 100,000, and has declined to 30,000, where it pretty much remains. Butte is a special case as it used to be a big mining town, but it also shows that larger cities never completely disappear. I don't think there is a case in the US where a city has reached 100,000 or over and completey disappeared.
August 20, 200618 yr There is no bottom. Butte's population is still plummeting, faster than Cincinnati or Dayton. Butte looks like an interesting example of the census's estimates seeming wack. The census says the population of Butte-Silver Bow was 33,336 in 1990, grew by 1.7% to 33,892 by 2000, but then over the last five years reversed itself and fell 4.75% to 32,282. Is that possible? Of course. It's just that everywhere you look, it seems like the census's estimates are out of line with what one expects, showing massively accelerating population loss, and in Butte's case, even when the recent trend had been positive. Of course, looking back a little further, Butte's 1980 population was 37,205...maybe the 1990's were an abberation...
August 20, 200618 yr Anybody got numbers on Canton and Youngstown? Canton: 72,584 2000: 80,806 Youngstown: 65,844 2000: 82,026
August 21, 200618 yr One thing I learned out West is that cities can completely dissappear (ghost towns), and nothing can stop it. Ohio cities are still falling The difference though, between the western gold formerly boomtowns, now ghost towns is that their economies were solely based on one industry. And people weren't as tied to their jobs and their properties as they are now. Luckily the economies of cities today are more diversified than ever, and that will help in the long run. What we have to do is keep creating new jobs by being at the forefront of new economy industries. The "coolness" of a city has some merit, but jobs matter most. Give them good jobs and they will come and create a "cool" buzz around a city or region.
August 22, 200618 yr Yes, but history certainly shows that even the most important cities can indeed disappear completely. Carthage, Babylon, Heliopolis were some of the most important cities of antiquity yet have disappeared completely when the economic system that they were a part of disappeared. So have thousands of others. Many more have been completely abandoned, only to have another city pop up nearby. Given the long view, cities are infinitely changeable.
August 22, 200618 yr I found online some pictures and data about Butte, and posted them at: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=10171.msg120143#msg120143 "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
August 22, 200618 yr ^^ Well, I've got first dibs on the Key Tower then, unless they figure a way to relocate that too.
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