U.S. Census reduces Pittsburgh region's latest population estimate (Philadelphia: apartment, new construction)

[Merge]

Originally Posted by trackstar13

I completely disagree and look at all of the stories about Detroit’s population decline as an example. There has been significant and well documented media coverage of Detroit’s population decline.

The stories of Pittsburgh’s population decline were plentiful in the 80’s. Losing Less than a tenth of 1% of our population today is a blip... not a national news story.

Comparing what may happen here now to what happened in Detroit over a period of decades is silly.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by Merge

The stories of Pittsburgh’s population decline were plentiful in the 80’s. Losing Less than a tenth of 1% of our population today is a blip... not a national news story.

Comparing what may happen here now to what happened in Detroit over a period of decades is silly.

I completely agree, but do you think the news media cares about if something sounds silly or not? For some reason a few posters are equating my opinions of what I think the news media will do if Pittsburgh drops below 300,000 and what my opinions are of Pittsburgh. I truly believe that Pittsburgh is a thriving city and these population estimates and stories seem to fit some type of Rust Belt narrative that the media continues to perpetuate.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Psychologically I'm depressed to think that in 2018 we'll be a smaller city than Cincinnati and that by 2020 we could have under 300,000 residents.

I don't care if we are smaller than Cincinnati, as historically Cincy was the larger city. What bothers me is that we have been eclipsed by Tulsa and Wichita! Does it really matter how big Pittsburgh is, though? There are plenty of smaller cities that are more vibrant and vital than the bigger ones. Morgantown is a nice city and they only have 30k people. Savannah has < 150k people and they have more going on than cities with 500k.

[gg]

Originally Posted by PreservationPioneer

What bothers me is that we have been eclipsed by Tulsa and Wichita!

[PGH423]

Originally Posted by PreservationPioneer

I don't care if we are smaller than Cincinnati, as historically Cincy was the larger city. What bothers me is that we have been eclipsed by Tulsa and Wichita! Does it really matter how big Pittsburgh is, though? There are plenty of smaller cities that are more vibrant and vital than the bigger ones. Morgantown is a nice city and they only have 30k people. Savannah has < 150k people and they have more going on than cities with 500k.

Our metro population is about triple Tulsa's and Omaha's

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by PGH423

Our metro population is about triple Tulsa's and Omaha's

Indeed. But we are talking about the population decline within the city limits in this thread, aren't we? And comparing city population trends to the size of other cities. I guess my point is to question if the size of the city limit population is even relevant, if an obviously smaller city such as Wichita has outpaced us in growth.

[_Buster]

Originally Posted by PreservationPioneer

Indeed. But we are talking about the population decline within the city limits in this thread, aren't we? And comparing city population trends to the size of other cities. I guess my point is to question if the size of the city limit population is even relevant, if an obviously smaller city such as Wichita has outpaced us in growth.

city populations are not meaningful outside of government. Jacksonville is much bigger than Boston. does it mean anything in real life? no. growth does, but remember here we are talking about tenths of a percent of population drop (estimated, which is often wrong), and most due to a prison closing. All of it is well within the big margin of error. people have to get in touch with reality. Pittsburgh's population is basically stable, and its getting wealthier, younger, and more educated.

[PreservationPioneer]

I was exploring Raleigh on Google Maps. It seems to be a pleasant if bland, kind of generic city. I couldn't find anything terribly unique about the architecture, layout, or urban neighborhoods. Perhaps I am wrong, though. You certainly can't say Pittsburgh is basic. I take a lot of pride in the general weirdness of the city's layout.

[Yac]

Back on topic folks, please.
Also, I feel I have to say I'm not sure who is worse - people who simply have to be negative or people who can't deal with the fact that there are negative folks out there, and we all have an opinion. Both groups tend to get personal and derail threads, even if one is "right" ...
Yac.

[PghYinzer]

I wonder if the impact of the cops moving out of the city along with the closing of the prison covers most of the population loss. I imagine the majority of those cops who fled did so for school choice reasons and took their families with them.