Posted on 01/30/24
| News Source: FOX45
Charm City is named among the top 15 U.S. cities facing population decline during the 21st century.
Baltimore landed fourth on the list of 15 Biggest US Cities Facing Depopulation by 2100.
The list was published this week by the investing website, Insider Monkey.
Baltimore City joins Cleveland, St. Louis, Birmingham, and Detroit in the top five U.S. cities dealing with shrinking populations.
Job losses, economic challenges, high crime rates, and suburbanization were cited for Baltimore’s population decline.
“It’s not unsurprising,” said Dr. Daraius Irani, Chief Economist of Towson University’s Regional Economic Studies Institute.
Irani said Baltimore’s population has been shrinking since the 1950’s while surrounding suburbs have grown.
“Double the taxes and half the services is almost Baltimore City’s mantra and that’s a challenge,” said Irani.
Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau estimates Baltimore City’s population to be around 570,000 residents.
Irani said Baltimore’s current population levels were last seen around 1910.
“If you’re asking people to pay more in taxes they kind of expect more in services,” he said. “But if they’re not getting more in services they might decide they want to leave and go somewhere they pay half the tax rate and you don’t have to deal with some of the challenges of poor infrastructure, grime everywhere, and crime.”
Data on dwindling populations for Insider Monkey’s list was pulled and analyzed from a depopulation study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago.
“What we found is that depopulation is very significant issue in the US,” said Professor Sybil Derrible, one of three researchers. “About half of all cities in the US will face depopulation at some point.”
Derrible said as residents move out of U.S. cities, those who choose to stay can face challenges.
“They have an excessive burden,” said Derrible. “So their taxes are supposed to pay for too much and it's just not reasonable.”
When asked about the newly published list of 15 shrinking U.S. cities, the professor of Urban Engineering indicated to FOX45 News the research was not intended to analyze and rank individual cities.
“I don’t want to start pitching Baltimore versus Washington D.C. or St Louis versus Kansas City because I don’t think it's productive,” said Derrible.
As populations shift, Derrible said solutions need to be found for cities nationwide.
“There’s a lot of people staying [in those cities] and we want to be sure they’re not left with an excess of infrastructure that’s impossible to maintain,” he said. “So what do we do about it?”