Altoona, PA’s Population Shrank in the Last Year
Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. via The Center Square
During the first year of the pandemic, only about 27 million Americans moved to a new home. That figure represents a 9% decline from the previous year and is the continuation of a multi-year trend in decreasing mobility rates.
People decide to move for a wide variety of reasons. Some are looking to upgrade to a nicer house or apartment. Some are moving to start a new job. Some are growing their family and need a bigger home. And some move in order to send their kids to better schools or to escape to a more hospitable climate, among any number of other reasons.
One of the most striking patterns in the latest migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau is the rapid population decline in some of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. Dozens of cities across the country have smaller populations now than they did a year ago.
Many factors unique to major cities, including high housing prices and a higher risk of exposure to COVID-19, have likely contributed to outward migration in the last year. Of course, natural change, or the total number of births less the number deaths in a given area, is also a factor in population change. And falling birth rates coupled with rising death rates during the pandemic have also contributed to population declines in many of these places.
In the Altoona metro area, located in Pennsylvania, the population fell from 122,518 in July 2020 to 121,767 in July 2021. The 0.6% decline ranks as the 34th highest among all U.S. metro areas.
The local population decline was driven by natural change, as the metro area recorded 700 more deaths than births over the past year. Net migration, meanwhile, contributed to population decline of about 70 over the same period.
| Rank | Metro area | Pop. change, July 2020 – July 2021 (%) | 2021 population | Natural pop. change, 1-yr. | Net migration, 1-yr. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lake Charles, LA | -5.3 | 210,362 | 362 | -11,824 |
| 2 | Odessa, TX | -2.6 | 161,091 | 1,592 | -5,878 |
| 3 | San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA | -2.5 | 4,623,264 | 9,052 | -123,885 |
| 4 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | -2.2 | 1,952,185 | 7,204 | -49,412 |
| 5 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | -1.6 | 19,768,458 | 38,347 | -361,774 |
| 6 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | -1.3 | 12,997,353 | 24,605 | -199,539 |
| 7 | Midland, TX | -1.3 | 173,180 | 1,507 | -3,763 |
| 8 | Urban Honolulu, HI | -1.2 | 1,000,890 | 1,468 | -13,686 |
| 9 | Decatur, IL | -1.2 | 102,432 | -239 | -976 |
| 10 | Enid, OK | -1.1 | 61,926 | -13 | -691 |
| 11 | Charleston, WV | -1.1 | 255,020 | -1,780 | -1,058 |
| 12 | Danville, IL | -1.1 | 73,095 | -230 | -559 |
| 13 | Napa, CA | -1.0 | 136,207 | -185 | -1,222 |
| 14 | Elmira, NY | -1.0 | 83,045 | -354 | -491 |
| 15 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | -1.0 | 9,509,934 | 11,138 | -102,613 |
| 16 | Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA | -0.9 | 267,792 | 32 | -2,602 |
| 17 | Pine Bluff, AR | -0.9 | 86,412 | -281 | -541 |
| 18 | Grand Island, NE | -0.9 | 76,175 | 151 | -854 |
| 19 | Beckley, WV | -0.9 | 113,698 | -941 | -85 |
| 20 | Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH | -0.9 | 115,585 | -856 | -169 |
| 21 | Wheeling, WV-OH | -0.9 | 137,740 | -954 | -269 |
| 22 | Shreveport-Bossier City, LA | -0.9 | 389,155 | -189 | -3,180 |
| 23 | Chico, CA | -0.8 | 208,309 | -361 | -1,439 |
| 24 | Casper, WY | -0.8 | 79,555 | -29 | -650 |
| 25 | Monroe, LA | -0.8 | 204,884 | -281 | -1,409 |
| 26 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | -0.7 | 4,899,932 | 1,036 | -37,535 |
| 27 | Peoria, IL | -0.7 | 398,224 | -671 | -2,295 |
| 28 | Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH | -0.7 | 356,581 | -1,817 | -751 |
| 29 | New Orleans-Metairie, LA | -0.7 | 1,261,726 | 96 | -8,583 |
| 30 | Springfield, IL | -0.7 | 206,898 | -504 | -906 |
| 31 | Niles, MI | -0.6 | 153,101 | -463 | -546 |
| 32 | Grand Forks, ND-MN | -0.6 | 103,462 | 237 | -894 |
| 33 | St. Joseph, MO-KS | -0.6 | 120,424 | -138 | -625 |
| 34 | Altoona, PA | -0.6 | 121,767 | -701 | -72 |
| 35 | Ann Arbor, MI | -0.6 | 369,390 | 347 | -2,644 |
| 36 | Johnstown, PA | -0.6 | 132,167 | -922 | 116 |
| 37 | Kankakee, IL | -0.6 | 106,601 | -159 | -491 |
| 38 | Bay City, MI | -0.6 | 102,985 | -646 | 19 |
| 39 | Pittsburgh, PA | -0.6 | 2,353,538 | -10,838 | -3,128 |
| 40 | Jackson, MS | -0.6 | 587,202 | 141 | -3,571 |
| 41 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | -0.6 | 6,091,747 | -2,111 | -32,541 |
| 42 | Rockford, IL | -0.6 | 336,278 | -121 | -1,828 |
| 43 | Alexandria, LA | -0.6 | 150,890 | -201 | -665 |
| 44 | Parkersburg-Vienna, WV | -0.6 | 88,687 | -462 | -46 |
| 45 | San Angelo, TX | -0.5 | 122,344 | 223 | -890 |
| 46 | Binghamton, NY | -0.5 | 245,220 | -683 | -695 |
| 47 | Sumter, SC | -0.5 | 135,782 | -187 | -548 |
| 48 | Erie, PA | -0.5 | 269,011 | -842 | -619 |
| 49 | Dubuque, IA | -0.5 | 98,718 | 12 | -530 |
| 50 | Utica-Rome, NY | -0.5 | 290,211 | -761 | -766 |