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How is Indianapolis not considered part of the "Rust Belt"? It was a heavily industrialized city before the collapse. I think Indianapolis has the brightest future of all those cities listed above. It seems to be growing the fastest of all the Midwest cities.
St Louis and Louisville should be included in that list of cities as well, in my opinion, that is.
I agree to some degree with St. Louis although it is outside the region that most people consider the rust belt. I don't think Louisville or Indianapolis ever really experience decline.
I've typed this before but, there are two things at play here: Pittsburgh had one of the largest elderly population in the country, and those people are dying off. The other factor is that the city's renaissance began sometime in the last decade, but new apartment construction didn't really kick into gear until last year. Pittsburgh has the third fastest rate of millennial population growth, but these young singles and childless couples have been displacing poor families. Median household income is are going up, but household sizes are shrinking. In the last couple years new apartment construction has been blooming. I expect to see real population growth to accompany the city's redevelopment.
For what it's worth, Pittsburgh isn't actually in population decline. The 2010 census shows a larger population than 2000. Last year's estimate showed a drop in population that falls within the margin of error, but still greater than the 2010 census population.
True I forgot PA is the 2nd oldest state, right next to Florida. Will be interesting to see if the metro area grows if those millennials stay there into their 40's have families and move to the suburbs.
How is Indianapolis not considered part of the "Rust Belt"? It was a heavily industrialized city before the collapse. I think Indianapolis has the brightest future of all those cities listed above. It seems to be growing the fastest of all the Midwest cities.
St Louis and Louisville should be included in that list of cities as well, in my opinion, that is.
I honestly never even thought about Louisville, always thought of it as more of a southern city then a rust belt city. Also based on most of the maps I see neither Louisville or St. Louis are in the rust belt. Indianapolis is but you can look at my other comments as to why I don't think it or Columbus are really rust belt cities.
It's not listed in the pool, but Baltimore is the Rust Belt city with the greatest potential for improvement.
Milwaukee has good bones, but it has a very large black population with a very small black middle class.
To me Baltimore is the rust belt city of the mid-atlantic in the same sense that Birmingham or Memphis are the rust belt cities of the south and Oakland is the rust belt city of the west coast. Before anyone else ask I used this map as a guide rustbelt.jpg Photo by kfwahoo | Photobucket
I agree to some degree with St. Louis although it is outside the region that most people consider the rust belt. I don't think Louisville or Indianapolis ever really experience decline.
I agree to some degree with St. Louis although it is outside the region that most people consider the rust belt. I don't think Louisville or Indianapolis ever really experience decline.
Louisville most definitely experienced decline. It posted losses from 1960-2000, the only for sure reason Louisville stopped losing residents was it's consolidation with Jefferson County. It very well may have stopped losing population under it's original boundaries with the momentum shift it has seen in the past 10 years. But that's a study that would be hard to confirm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stealthfox94
I honestly never even thought about Louisville, always thought of it as more of a southern city then a rust belt city. Also based on most of the maps I see neither Louisville or St. Louis are in the rust belt. Indianapolis is but you can look at my other comments as to why I don't think it or Columbus are really rust belt cities.
I think a case can be made for Louisville. The first Ford Auto Assembly was built in 1913. It is one of the first automobile assembly cities outside of Detroit. It was very industrial in the 1900's. It peaked in population in 1960 and experience 3 straight decades of decline before it merged with Jefferson County. It's freeway network looks Midwestern, it's downtown looks fairly Midwestern as well. I am not trying to make this an "is Louisville southern" debate. However southern or not Louisville has more than a few rust belt qualities.
I agree to some degree with St. Louis although it is outside the region that most people consider the rust belt. I don't think Louisville or Indianapolis ever really experience decline.
Pretty sure the historic core of Indianapolis experienced decline on par with Cincy and other Rust Belt cities. That said, I certainly don't think of Indy as a Rust Belt town. It shares a lot more in common with "Grain Belt industrial" cities like KC, Omaha and Minneapolis, in my view.
Cincinnati could be a shoe-on for this, it has impressive amenities and economy but it has also has extremely high violent crime rates and has some of the highest per-capita illicit drug mortality rates in the country.
Cincinnati has a 4.1% unemployment rate and 1.9% job growth rate.
It has gone from 959,000 jobs in 2010 to 1,087,000 jobs in 2016.
Grand Rapids for city and metro area. The city I have always heard great things about and they have had sun-belt job growth rates and then some.
I voted Grand Rapids because it seems like both the city and metropolitan are in good shape with a bright future.
I have not been there but I have heard the inner-city core and city itself is in very good shape in a rust-belt city and social problems are at a minimum in the city itself.
In April 2016, Grand Rapids unemployment rate was 2.9%.
It has gone from 437,000 jobs in 2010 to 539,000 jobs in 2016. Which is a very impressive gain considering it's only about a million person metropolitan area.
I dislike the cold myself, but Grand Rapids I have always read great things about in travel publications.
I was in Pittsburgh a decade ago and thought it had some really, nice neighborhoods but overall it looks very depressed economically and it has a very, very high crime rate.
71 homicides for a city of 305,000 people for a year is an excessive amount and is certainly not indicative of a city in good shape.
Pittsburgh seems to be a great city for health care, education, parks and arts but other then that it seems like a very economically weak metropolitan area with a stagnant population and the city itself has a very, very high crime rate.
Last edited by lovecrowds; 09-16-2016 at 02:56 PM..
Pretty sure the historic core of Indianapolis experienced decline on par with Cincy and other Rust Belt cities. That said, I certainly don't think of Indy as a Rust Belt town. It shares a lot more in common with "Grain Belt industrial" cities like KC, Omaha and Minneapolis, in my view.
Fair enough.
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