U.S. Census Reports Pittsburgh Population Decrease

While Pennsylvania's population remains the 6th highest in the union with 12,702,379 residents, southwest Pennsylvania's population faces decline. According to the 2010 Census results Allegheny County experienced a 4.6% population loss counting for 58,318 people, while Pittsburgh's population dropped to 305,704 from 334,563.

Chris Briem, Regional Economist at Pitt's University Center for Social and Urban Research, says that the declining population is fallout from families migrating after a lot of industry left the region. "The job loss here, the loss of heavy industry here, was about as extreme as you would find even by Rust Belt standards. So I think a lot of those long term demographic trends are impacting us more than elsewhere."

Briem says that once families left the region they took away some of the opportunity for the population to grow and left behind an older population that is less likely to have children.

Other Pennsylvania regions fared better than the Pittsburgh region with the entire state gaining 421,325 people and Philadelphia County acquiring an additional 8,456 people.

Allegheny Pop Falls But the Rate is Slowing

In 2008 Allegheny lost .3% of its population and since the 2000 census, the population has dropped 5.2%. The data shows all of the growth in the county was due to international in migration, which saw a net gain of 1,500 residents. There was a net domestic out migration of 3,600 residents in the same time period. Pennsylvania State Data Center Director Sue Copella says the problematic population drain for Allegheny County is its difference in birth and death rate. Since 2000 deaths have outpaced births by 11,640. The total population change for Allegheny County was -48,373. Copella says the population numbers are not directly related to the regions economy. She says where one should look for clues on the health of the region is in its migration data. Copella says as she looks at the numbers for the county and the region she sees what looks like ski slop: A steep decline followed by a hallowing of the curve. She says it may not be long before the population numbers reverse. One county in the region that has seen growth is Butler County. Since 2000 it has grown by 5.1 percent. The Pittsburgh metro area saw a .1% decline in 2008 to settle at 2,351,192. The Johnstown area fell .5% to 144,319. The state as a whole grew by 1.4%. Allegheny County is now the 30th largest in the nation.

PA Grows and Allegheny County Shrinks by 2030

Allegheny County’s population is expected to continue to decline over the next 20 years according to the most recent projections from the Pennsylvania State Data Center at Penn State University. From 2000 to 2030 Pennsylvania is expected to grow 7.4% making it a small growth state like many in the northeast. In the same period Allegheny County is expected to loose 11.6% of its population. However, the study shows the Hispanic population in the county will grow by 136 percent and the African American population will grow by nearly 11 percent. Another area of growth for Allegheny County is its senior population with those over 65 growing by 20 percent from 2000 to 2030. Data Center Director Sue Copella says not all of southwester Pennsylvania is shrinking. Washington County will reverse the trend of population loss over the last three decades and butler and Westmorland counties will also see growth. The state as a whole is also seeing minority populations growing faster than non-minorities with Hispanics showing the largest growth at 184% and African Americans growing by 26.6% moving that minority from representing 10% of the population in 2000 to 12% in 2030.

Pennsylvania growing slowly

The latest Census Bureau estimates show Pennsylvania grew at the rate of point-2 percent from 2007-2007. That compares to 1 percent nation wide but is similar to other states in the Northeast including New York at .1%, New Jersey at .2% and Maryland at .3%. Most of Pennsylvania’s growth came from in migration from outside the United States. International migration accounted for 16,829 new Pennsylvanians in 2006 while migration within the US accounted for a loss of 7,377 residents. The state saw slow natural growth with births outstripping deaths by 18,676 lives. The Census Bureau estimates Pennsylvania’s population was 12,432,792 July 1 2007. That makes it the 6th largest state. The .2% population change ranks 41sty in the nation and the real growth of 29,975 ranked Pennsylvania 24th in the nation.

See report from the Pennsylvania State Data Center.