Americans Are Fleeing These 50 Cities In Droves
Cities don't keep growing forever. Eventually they become big enough that people get sick of living in them and long to retreat further back into the suburbs.
Some never reach that point and simply fizzle out because a major employer leaves town or a river changes course.
Whatever the reasons, cities can lose residents just as easily as they gain them.
With that in mind, here are the 50 American cities that have shrunk the most since 2010.
Big thanks to Business Insider and 24/7 Wall St. for compiling the census data.
Note: some of these "cities" are in fact counties, since the government has amalgamated urban areas for statistical purposes.
Image by Jody Summers from Pixabay
50. Fairbanks, Alaska
City population: 31,644
How many people moved out (2010-17): 7,011
Fairbanks is the second-largest metro area in Alaska after Anchorage, but that hasn't stopped a large percentage of its population from seeking greener pastures in the past decade. In 2010, Fairbanks was named the third most dangerous city in America for women, so maybe that's part of the explanation. Either that or winter.
49. Johnstown, Pennsylvania
City population: 19,447
How many people moved out (2010-17): 7,070
Johnstown was once a prototypical industrial city, with tens of thousands of jobs in the steel manufacturing industry.
Unfortunately, the changing economy and the area's relative remoteness from iron ore deposits ultimately led to the decline of the old ways. In 2003, Johnstown was the city in the U.S. that attracted the fewest new residents.
Things have improved slightly since then, but the population is still declining.
48. Hinesville, Georgia
City population: 32,872
How many people moved out (2010-17): 7,171
The city of Hinesville is located on Georgia's Atlantic coast. If that sounds romantic, well... Last year, Business Insider ranked Hinesville the most boring city in Georgia, noting that it has no museums, sparse cultural institutions, not nearly enough restaurants for a city its size, and only four bars.
47. El Centro, California
City population: 42,598
How many people moved out (2010-17): 7,219
El Centro lies near the U.S.-Mexico border in the southeastern part of California, and is Cher's hometown. (Fun fact!) Like Cher, however, many people have been leaving El Centro in the past ten years.
It's difficult to say why, though the city was hit hard by the recession of 2008, reaching a peak unemployment rate of 25.7% in the aftermath.
