Why the decline in Cook County's population? (Chicago, Schaumburg: real estate, condos)

[CHICAGOLAND92]

Does anyone have any information??

[Steve-o]

Really? Last I checked Chicago was on another upswing, not too sure about the rest of the county, but Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates are also doing well.

[j33]

Cook county is indeed losing population quite rapidly.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/308281,CST-NWS-cens22.article (broken link)

It is part of a trend of people moving further and further out to the ex-urbs that I find sad and disturbing.

[Attrill]

The population loss is an estimate, not an actual count. We won't know if it's accurate until the 2010 census (the estimates between the 1990-2000 census predicted a loss in population, but the actual count showed growth).

If loss is occuring it is happening for different reasons in different areas. Towns in Cook county run the gamut from Calumet City to Winnetka - it is impossible to give a short answer to why the county may be losing population.

Population loss in very dense areas is not always a sign of problems. I lived in Ukrainian Village through all of the 90's and saw more than half my block coverted from 3 flats with extended families (at least 10-15 people in the building) converted to new condos with no more than 6 or 7 people living in the building.

[Drover]

My first impulse is to speculate that if indeed Cook County is experiencing population loss, the price of real estate is one of the main reasons. People with kids to house and feed who might have looked at the area before are finding better deals in outlying areas, leaving a lot of singles, empty nesters and DINKS to live in homes/units that used to be occupied by whole families. That's one of the reasons why Chicago proper's population has remained stagnant even in the face of a 10-year housing boom: many if not most of those new housing units are being occupied by 1 or 2, or at the most, 3 people, as Attrill alludes to above.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by j33

Cook county is indeed losing population quite rapidly.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/308281,CST-NWS-cens22.article (broken link)

It is part of a trend of people moving further and further out to the ex-urbs that I find sad and disturbing.

All the population charts that Ive seen for Chicago show the opposite. Between 1990 and 2000, Chicago gained over 100K people. I guess well have to wait until the real census shows....

[j33]

I wonder what charts the folks at the Sun Times and the Tribune are looking at then? Because I've recently heard in the news from more than one outlet about decline in cook county's population (but the increase in population of the metro area, the collar counties if you will).

[MABCle]

http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/tables/CO-EST2006-01-17.xls (broken link)

This is the data that was recently released by the census.

[PrinzII]

Two words. Property taxes.