US Mid to Large City Downtown Neighborhood Resident Population (living, better, comparison)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Found this analysis from Brookings that states Chicago has the fastest growing downtown population of any major city. Includes a bunch of other cities in this analysis as well.
I’m not surprised if this is the truth about Chicago, The Loop used to have barely anyone 30 years ago, and now it’s close to 50k. The Near North Side has filled out well and the South Loop and West Loop have also gone from having little amounts of people to being populated.
This is a bit misleading though... What is "Downtown Cape Coral?" I never knew there was such a thing. Someone please point me to this mysterious place.
Nope, Uptown is 591.8 acres and is a different submarket. It’s very dense given its small size. It has a slightly higher population than Downtown (Uptown pop. Q3 2019 17,064) . It doesn’t include Victory Park (where the American Airlines Center is) and the Harwood District. They’re different areas even though they’re right next to Uptown. Can’t even tell the difference honestly. Only the signs are pretty much the only way of knowing.
EDIT: BTW downtown is the fastest growing part of Dallas.
Victory Park is 75 acres
Harwood District is 19 city blocks
Downtown + Uptown = 2.5 sq mi.
A combined population of roughly 32,000 or so
Quote:
Originally Posted by mhays25
That's wrong. The Census maps show about 15,000 for tracts that cover the Downtown freeway loop, BUT those tracts also include large areas outside it for a total of 3.2 square miles.
Downtown is 1,064 acres according to the 2019 source I gave for Uptown. So, that’s 1.6 sq mi, not 1.4 like Wikipedia (So, the others might be wrong as well). Uptown is 0.925 sq mi officially. Even though most ppl’s idea of its boundaries are a little larger.
So, that would’ve been 2.3 sq mi for the previous number and 2.5 sq mi for the corrected number. Sorry, I thought I corrected all the typos even with all the edits lol
I started the thread for the full service grocery stores in US City downtowns, and it led me to thinking that the presence or lack of a full service grocery store downtown, is largely tied to downtown perm resident population numbers for each city.
So I did a little searching online, and found a bit of information, but it is a few years old, and the details are spread out thinly.
This lays out some city residential downtown population numbers, and many are very surprising. These numbers are based on the status, as of 2017:
*Memphis and Detroit have very strong downtown residential populations, bucking the perception that the cities are desolate, crime ridden and scary downtown. Quite the opposite.
Both have full service grocery stores and are growing/gentrifying well, blending tourism and residential downtown very well.
*Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, Jacksonville, Salt Lake City, Tampa and Louisville have shockingly very LOW residents downtown. Based on the 2017 numbers, it's no wonder these downtowns are lacking basic amenities--hardly anyone lives there permanently. Hopefully the numbers have changed dramatically for some of them.
*Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Denver, all have very strong residential populations, leading to bustling and vibrant downtowns.
*Orlando was a surprise for me! Wow, amazing residential numbers downtown.
*Austin and Nashville's numbers have skyrocketed since 2017, and will double or triple by the 2030s, easily
Orlando and Denver are shockers for sure.
Among its peers, Cincinnati looks very strong matching Chicago and besting Pittsburgh. Building the small but important Bell Connector streetcar showed a serious commitment to urban revival.
Indianapolis 3Xing both Austin and Columbus is pretty hilarious, given their subdued posture juxtaposed with Austin's attempts to be boosted into urban prime time.
Between MLK Blvd, Warren Street, Falls Street and Franklin Street it’s 1.1 sq miles and 12,935.
If you extend it to Central Av or 1.3 sq miles you’re up to 15,869.
According to the 2021 State of Downtown Baltimore Report there are 42,478 people within a 1 mile radius of Pratt and Light streets which is 12th in the country. Just another way of looking at it. https://godowntownbaltimore.com/advocacy/resources/
Among its peers, Cincinnati looks very strong matching Chicago and besting Pittsburgh. Building the small but important Bell Connector streetcar showed a serious commitment to urban revival.
Indianapolis 3Xing both Austin and Columbus is pretty hilarious, given their subdued posture juxtaposed with Austin's attempts to be boosted into urban prime time.
What are you basing any of this on? There's no context for these numbers.
What are you basing any of this on? There's no context for these numbers.
It was a good read and a good effort put into that list, but I got the same thing out of it because it doesn't say what the square mileage is for those numbers.
For Cleveland, looking at the census tract tool that was posted, the downtown tracts are 1071.01, 1077.01 and 1078.02. Together, they combine for 13,338 in 3 square miles. But that is a little deceiving because tract 1071.01 is listed as being 1.5 square miles by itself, but only .2 square miles (Flats East Bank and Warehouse District) is habitable. Then about .8 square miles is the Port of Cleveland, FirstEnergy Stadium, Rock Hall, Burke Lakefront Airport and then probably .5 square miles of Lake Erie. The only thing I can think for including portions of Lake Erie on that tract is due to infastructure being there (break wall, water filtration tanks). Also, another .2 square miles from tract 1077.01 is Irishtown Bend which is 100 percent industrial ... Though in fairness, Irishtown Bend has residential potential; and so does the Port of Cleveland, First Energy Stadium and Burke Airport land if the port ends up moving, the stadium is rebuilt and Burke closed.
But for now, that 13,338 is in a 1.5 mile radius that includes Flats East Bank, Warehouse District, CBD, Playhouse Square and Campus District. Those census numbers also likely don't include the Beacon (355-foot residential tower finished in 2019) and wouldn't include the Lumen (400-foot residential tower finished in 2020). That's about 500 units between those two and doesn't include probably another couple hundred units of converted residential from vacant office space. So, I wouldn't be surprised if the population is close to 15,000 now and will almost assuredly go over that number when the 250-foot City Club apartment Tower (under construction) is finished next year.
FWIW, I believe the Cleveland Downtown Alliance has the downtown population as being at 20,000. But I think they are including Flats West Bank/Lakeview Terrace and Asiatown. Those are debatable, but personally don't view either as "downtown."
Among its peers, Cincinnati looks very strong matching Chicago and besting Pittsburgh. Building the small but important Bell Connector streetcar showed a serious commitment to urban revival.
Indianapolis 3Xing both Austin and Columbus is pretty hilarious, given their subdued posture juxtaposed with Austin's attempts to be boosted into urban prime time.
Indy Downtown (~3.3 sq mi, using I-70 to the south, I-70/65 to the east, White River to the West, and I-65/16th St to the North as boundary) is almost 2x the size of Austin (~1.6 sq mi, using Colorado River to the South, I-35 to the East, MLK Blvd to the North, and Lamar to the West as the boundary), though. That being said, Indy downtown is surprisingly pleasant and nice for a Midwest city at least prior to the virus.
But either way, Downtown Austin grew from ~7500 peeps in 2010 to now ~14k peeps, so the growth is definitely there. But what makes the population relatively low compare to, let say, Indy is that Austin downtown residential growth are basically due to those "luxury" high-rise condos and not much else, while Indy downtown residential is more of a mix between cookie-cutter 5+1 apartments next to some townhouses next to some old warehouse buildings that was repurposed.
But either way, Downtown Austin grew from ~7500 peeps in 2010 to now ~14k peeps, so the growth is definitely there. But what makes the population relatively low compare to, let say, Indy is that Austin downtown residential growth are basically due to those "luxury" high-rise condos and not much else, while Indy downtown residential is more of a mix between cookie-cutter 5+1 apartments next to some townhouses next to some old warehouse buildings that was repurposed.
How do high rise condos cause a low population compared to "cookie-cutter 5+1 apartments next to some townhouses next to some old warehouse buildings that was repurposed"? Townhouses are by nature smaller and contain fewer people than high rise buildings. Also, we do have high rise buildings with condos and apartments here too, just less of them. 360 Market Square opened in 2015.
I'm not saying Indianapolis is a behemoth, because we're not. I'm just having a hard time making sense of your comment, feels like you're trying to take a cheap shot at Indy and/or artificially build up Austin citing made up stats.
As of last year, Downtown Raleigh stood a little over 12,000 people in 1.18 sq miles. A 1-mile radius got you to 21,000.
According to that report, downtown Raleigh has more than doubled its housing stock since 2015. I wouldn't be surprised to see it add again as much or more in the next 7 years. There are two residential towers (36 and 37 floors) that will go up starting next year, and there's a 20 story one going up now. There's another 20 story that's in site prep, and there are a smattering of other residential project in Raleigh's rather small downtown proper.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
