Cuyahoga County had the third largest population loss nationwide in sheer numbers between 2016 and 2017 and the second largest percentage population loss among the 100 most populous counties, according to newly released Census data.
Estimates show Cuyahoga County lost 4,940 residents, trailing only Cook County (20,093 drop) and the city of Baltimore (5,310 drop). The six counties surrounding Cuyahoga County all experienced growth, albeit nominal in each case.
The Cleveland-Elyria metro area also fell in the bottom 10 for population growth among metro areas with more than 500,000 residents, coming in with a 0.1% drop.
The Columbus metro area passed the Cleveland metro area in population. Cincinnati remained the most populous but some experts predict Columbus will surpass it by the early to mid-2020s as the city continues to attract jobs.
What does it mean? Well, the numbers are the numbers, and it’s hard to paint a rosy picture when Cleveland is faced with repeated population loss stats. And, as data cruncher extraordinaire Rich Exner reminds us, Cuyahoga County is already almost completely built out (for no good reason), as you might have noticed from the 2003 county land use map (aka: the Map de Sprawl) that was widely shared in recent weeks. It shows the unabated development of Cuyahoga from county line to county line from 1948 to 2002 despite the fact that the county’s population was identical in both years.
This article appears in Mar 21-27, 2018.
What I don’t see is an explanation of where this population loss is coming from. Cleveland? Suburbs? Ex-burbs? New-burbs? The same all over?? No one seems to know, or to have dug into the data to try to show where it’s happening. Knowing where is a good clue to how to solve i.
A couple years ago, Scene was also pointing out that even as Cleveland lost population, it’s population make-up was shifting in a positive direction. While low-income, low-skilled, and low-education residents were moving out, middle-class, high-skilled, and high-education people were moving in. It was a net population loss, but a positive sign going forward. Where’s that analysis this time? Does anyone know whether that trend has continued??