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Are there any US cities that are in serious decline? And let me clarify, most US cities have been recovering since the 1990s or so, but are there any that are in a large-scale verifiable decline? I know that there are many suburbs throughout the country that have declined but I am talking about both core-city and at least some of the suburbs being in a serious decline. By decline, I mean Urban-decay, more vacant shops, etc., etc. By city, let's say anything above 100,000 in the metropolitan area or so. This does not denote other cites that are below that population number as not being cities.
Last edited by Monkey1970; 10-28-2016 at 09:59 PM..
Decline is more prevalent in older cities. There are the few good city core wealthy neighborhoods that everyone wants to live in while the rest of the city declines. The suburbs in Ohio, PA, and NY are booming. People have realized that city living isn't all that. The trend of working in the city but living in the burbs is back. The suburbs are safer, cost less, offer more property, have better schools, it's easier to get around, etc. On top of that, high end restaurants and breweries are opening in the burbs. Suburbs are having farmers markets and festivals. There is no reason to go into the city.
Utica, NY - the bottom fell out in the '80s and it has never come back. Neighborhoods that used to be in rough shape are now just gone, and the neighborhoods that used to be blue collar (most of the city) are now in rough shape. If you look at the statistical comparisons that have been generated that show the rebound of the rust belt, Utica is last or nearly last in all of them.
3 of the Top 4 cities losing population the fastest are in the Sunbelt (Farmington NM, Pine Bluff AR and Sierra Vista-Douglas AZ) so it's not all about the Rust Belt as many might think.
Most are rust belt cities. First that come to mind are Toledo, Cleveland, Youngstown, Rockford, Flint, Detroit, Erie, Buffalo (has just started turning around), and Utica.
3 of the Top 4 cities losing population the fastest are in the Sunbelt (Farmington NM, Pine Bluff AR and Sierra Vista-Douglas AZ) so it's not all about the Rust Belt as many might think.
Sierra Vista area is mainly due to economic reasons. It has gone from 39,200 jobs in 2006 to 33,500 jobs in 2016.
Sierra Vista is about an hour from Tucson. It has significant retiree population and the weather is nearly perfect in my opinion.
It is about 4,000 feet altitude so it has mild winters and warm but not summers. Just slightly cooler then Phoenix in the winter and about similar to Denver in the summer.
It has a significantly highly higher household income then Phoenix or Tucson. Median household according to the Census is $58,818 in Sierra Vista compared to $46,881 in Phoenix.
There is alot of housing inventory in Sierra Vista due to the population and job declines so they have smaller-patio homes for around $100,000 and the property taxes are extremely low.
Farmington, New Mexico has a 9.5 percent unemployment rate and stagnant job growth.
For some reason, despite the mountain views, decent weather and extremely low housing prices it doesn't seem to be attracting alot of retiree's like many other scenic western cities with similar views and weather.
Last edited by lovecrowds; 10-29-2016 at 10:13 AM..
Utica, NY - the bottom fell out in the '80s and it has never come back. Neighborhoods that used to be in rough shape are now just gone, and the neighborhoods that used to be blue collar (most of the city) are now in rough shape. If you look at the statistical comparisons that have been generated that show the rebound of the rust belt, Utica is last or nearly last in all of them.
Even within the city, South Utica(south of Burrstone/Memorial Parkway), outer East/SE Utica, North Utica and perhaps even West Utica in between Utica College and Addison Miller Park are at least decent/solid to actually pretty nice. It actually added people in between 2000 and 2010 likely mainly due to refugees. Baggs Square has actually seen some revitalization So, while it does have its share of issues, there are some bright spots in the city. Here is an video from the mayor from a little over a year ago: Video: Insight 06/12/15 | Watch Insight Online | WCNY Public Media Video
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 10-29-2016 at 10:18 AM..
Sierra Vista is about an hour from Tucson. It has significant retiree population and the weather is nearly perfect in my opinion.
It is about 4,000 feet altitude so it has mild winters and warm but not summers. Just slightly cooler then Phoenix in the winter and about similar to Denver in the summer.
It is not a poor area though. Median household according to the Census is $58,818 in Sierra Vista compared to $46,881 in Phoenix.
There is alot of housing inventory in Sierra Vista due to the population and job declines so they have smaller-patio homes for around $100,000 and the property taxes are extremely low.
Farmington, New Mexico has a 9.5 percent unemployment rate so it's appeal to workers is very low.
For some reason, despite the mountain views, decent weather and extremely low housing prices it doesn't seem to be attracting alot of retiree's like many other scenic western cities with similar views and weather.
Sierra Vista is also a military town(Fort Huachuca is nearby), which can be transient and may be subject to cuts by the DoD.
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