Study: US Cities Where Population Has Decreased the Most in 2023 (2024)

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Study: US Cities Where Population Has Decreased the Most in 2023? ›

According to a December release by the Census Bureau, California, Illinois and New York - along with West Virginia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Oregon - lost population in 2023 compared to 2022.

According to a December release by the Census Bureau, California, Illinois and New York - along with West Virginia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Oregon - lost population in 2023 compared to 2022.

Population declines continued in the nation's three largest metros — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — but their losses were lower than in previous years. New York City lost 78,000 residents last year.

El Monte had the fifth-highest population shrinkage studywide, losing 9.3% of its population. San Francisco ranked sixth overall with a 8.6% decrease over five years. Santa Ana (-7.8%), Glendale (-6.8%), Inglewood (-6.3%), San Jose (6.2%), Pasadena (-5.9%), Concord (-5.5%), and Corona (5.0%) also topped the list.

The states that lost the most population were New York, down around 100,000, and California, which lost 75,000. "Most of the growth or decline in all the states is due to domestic migration, people moving from/to other states. Some states grew, others declined, for many of the same reasons," Poston said.

They found that 43% of American cities may depopulate by the turn of the century—meaning that between 12% and 23% of the U.S. population will be on the move. They also concluded that all states but Hawaii and Washington, D.C. will face some amount of city depopulation.

What states are losing the most people? ›

The births and deaths in a state also impact the state population. A natural decrease occurred in 24 US states in 2022. Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio experienced the highest negative natural change of -40,216, -23,021, and -19,543 respectively.

New York and California were the top two states that had the highest number of people moving out as a share of their total number of movers. Many New Yorkers moved to cheaper states such as New Jersey where they still had the ease of commuting to work.

Massachusetts, New Jersey, Louisiana, Maryland, Hawaii, Minnesota, and Michigan round out the top 10 states people are saying goodbye to. Among regions, the South is seeing the greatest increase in migration, while the Northeast is losing the most people.

In fact, the fastest-growing states were South Carolina and Florida, with growth of 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively. More states saw population growth in 2023 than there have been since the pandemic's beginning. At the state level, there was a population rise in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

Propelled by falling birth rates, the U.S. population is rapidly aging and steadily declining. In turn, the country is experiencing economic and social pressures caused by labor shortages.

Illinois' population decline crisis has now spread to every major metropolitan area in the state. Chicago continued losing residents in 2023.

According to a December release by the Census Bureau, California, Illinois and New York—along with West Virginia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Oregon — lost population in 2023 compared to 2022. Throughout the new Census first released in 2020, all three states have shown continuously sinking population numbers.

At the moment, 43% of cities in the United Sates are losing population, 40% are gaining, and the remaining have fluctuating trends. The researchers combined data from the U.S. Census as well as data that anticipates different climate change scenarios to create their analysis.

Continuing a pandemic trend, Americans are moving to the South and Southwest and from cities to the suburbs in search of more space and homes they can afford, recent government data indicates. But immigration, which is starting to bounce back from pandemic lows, has helped mitigate population loss in major cities.