Some of the key stats (all from July1, 2014 to July 1, 2015):
St. Louis City - Lost 1,537 (it's worst year this decade).
St. Louis County - Gained 1,174
Saint Charles County - Gained 5,638
St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area - Gained 5,397
Kind of a curious point of comparison: since 2010 the St. Louis MSA has the same growth rate as Chicago at .9%, and it managed to outperform Chicago in the last year (obviously a small sample size) by .3%.
Regarding Yael T. Abouhalkah usual St. Louis bashing editorials in today's KC Stare:
It is so low-class to bash the other major metro in Missouri. The two metros should work together to address urban issues in Jeff City, such as Medicaid Expansion and Mass Transit Funding. Missouri is one of the few states that provides almost zero subsidy for mass transit. This is because the two metro areas fight against each other allowing out-state Missourah to run the legislature. MOLEG spends all its time solving non-problems such as voter ID and non-existent cake boycotts for gay weddings.
But to put the census numbers between KC and St. Louis into a little more of an objective light, it is clear the KC's increase vs St. Louis is largely due to Hispanic increases. This is not surprising since all metros -- as you get closer to Mexico -- are experiencing a boom in Hispanic populations. Another trend seems to be that East to West migration continues in both metros. Nearly all of the St. Louis metro decreases were on the Illinois side of the metro. The Missouri side of St. Louis is booming with St. Charles County growing the most of any county in Missouri. So Illinoisans are moving to Missouri on the East side of the state, and Missourians are moving to Kansas on the West side. St. Louis already contributes twice as much to the economy of Missouri as Kansas City, and that share will only be going higher with these trends.
Both KC and St. Louis metros are growing in population. But with the higher growth of Hispanic populations in KC fueling a faster rate of growth there, KC could overtake St. Louis in population by the year 2030.
A trend I've noticed in the census estimates is that every year they revise up the previous years for St. Louis city while the latest estimate always shows a much more significant population drop. Like the census now shows the city as stable 2010-2012 while when they made those estimates during those years they showed a significant drop, like 1,000 per year. I tend to think all the census estimates need to be taken with a grain of salt (the ones before 2010 showed an increase in the city and a much larger decrease in the county than happened) but it's a trend worth noting that they may revise up the number for 2015 next year.
^ that's a solid point... it's like Labor releases that get revised upwards and downwards so any single year should be taken with a grain of salt. I do think though that these numbers are probably more solid than last decade as the city is no longer hounding the Census Bureau to revise numbers upwards.
Population isn't the end all be all. Pittsburgh for some time was the poster child for urban revival. Cleveland has gained some major attention as well as Detroit. Most urban going people would never consider moving to the sprawl "cities" of Texas
The sprawl ball keeps on bouncing and each of us is on the hook for more roads, pipes, wires, city halls, libraries, schools, fire depts, police depts, etc
StL Cit, County, and St. Charles county have grown 2.29% since 1970. We've made ourselves house poor and this why we can't afford things like decent transit (nor muster enough ridership).
^^ Absolutely agree. Growth for growth's sake isn't really a big deal to me.... places like STL, PITT, CLE & DET can provide a great quality of life and as legacy cities offer things that most hotter cities simply can't. The concerns for me are ones relating to our ability create a better quality of life for more of our residents. The city is definitely mixed on that front... 2 things I wish for STL is high quality transit and being able to make strong progress in stabilizing North City. If we can make progress on our quality of life, I'm pretty sure we'll see increased growth, but frankly I could care less about how we stack up compared to the Nashvilles, etc. of the country.
This census didn't shock me by any means and to be honest was expected.. I'm not down frustrated or aggravated I'm coming to realize our leaders can only do so much and you can never twist bend force any company to move here no more how much of an incentive you dangle in front of them to be here including individuals and families. Believe what you want to believe perception is perception its up to all of us to rise above and beyond to want better here in St.Louis.
Every city that was heavily reliant on industrial manufacturing jobs remain stagnant to loss of population while every city reliant on energy tech saw significant gains.
I would think a place like St.Louis would soon catch fire once our tech industry starts to mature even further.
In the mean time i do think St.Louis should better market itself to those of hispanic latino mexican decent and instead of placing them in some place in south city actually encourage them to move into north city i think that would help slowly gentrify an area devastated by loss and neglect. I mean its not pretty but it will be a start
The Metro East population loss never surprised me as i already knew Illinois was the number 1 state for population loss and that trend is going to continue for some time and it won't surprise me Chicago starts declining significantly.
I think in St.Louis's situation it could go either way however i do think our population will further deviate from stagnation to a more modest growth who knows when but i think people here want change want positive.
I think the area is highly attractive if we have the right mindset and give ourselves a chance.
Places like Texas that have no income tax will still get all the accolades and i think if the trend continues it'll be a cause for concern their cities alone have outpaced most states actual growth.
I realized whining about the negatives will only worsen how things are and not make things any better so I'm wanting to be more positive about things here.
Even places like Detroit Cleveland Pittsburgh that get most of the limelight have continued to deteriorate.
Of course we already knew STL City (slight loss) and STL County (slight gain) numbers but it's interesting to note estimates for towns in the County.... very marginal growth for even those that are picking up folks. Creve Couer seemed to add the most, with 402. And even places like Webster Groves, Maryland Hts. and Clayton had estimated losses. Everyone seems to be headed back to select city neighborhoods or out to St. Chuck's Co.
quincunx wrote:If St. Louis had as much land area as Kansas City, it'd have more than a million people
Kansas City extends into four counties. Why can't St Louis annex portions of neighboring counties? If it is that 19th century law, then we should challenge it in court. It is not being applied equally across Missouri since KC annexes across county lines.
Also, has St. Louis ever proposed annexing some inner ring cities by offering them lower taxes than they pay now and special borough status to maintain their identity?
gary kreie wrote:Kansas City extends into four counties. Why can't St Louis annex portions of neighboring counties? If it is that 19th century law, then we should challenge it in court. It is not being applied equally across Missouri since KC annexes across county lines.
Also, has St. Louis ever proposed annexing some inner ring cities by offering them lower taxes than they pay now and special borough status to maintain their identity?
The separation was done under sections of the state constitution Article VI section 30(a) and (b). I only applies to St. Louis. It gives us tremendous power to structure our government that we choose not to exercise, but makes anything little impossible.
In order for St. Louis City to annex one acre of land it takes a vote of St. Louis City and County with a majority of votes in each.
Didn't the state Supreme Court throw out the law that imposed different fine maximum per cent for St. Louis towns vs other Missouri towns? What about equal treatment under the law?
St. Louis has to support growth in Illinois if it knows what's good for itself. I've always seen both Illinois and Missouri shrugging off the Metro East. However, Illinois has done a bit more, and leaders in St Louis city obviously know the benefits, since the city is very much surrounded by that state. Development on the Missouri side of the metro area is so far out, that we're talking about 45 minute drives, to an hour, of a commute to downtown St. Louis. Some of these people never go to St Louis city at all. In Illinois , you can find corn fields just 5 miles from the arch. There's a lot of undeveloped land, yet also a lot of infrastructure.
If St Louis embraced development in the metro east, development could propel St Louis to a much larger, and competitive scale than it is now. Keep in mind current census estimates have a number of metro areas passing up St. Louis, including Denver, Tampa Bay, and San Diego. The metro area is dropping fast, and it has to remain competative.
Keep in mind, part of the problem is local tension. We saw this tension on National Television with the Ferguson situation. There has to be more unity, and a progressive view of the city, and urban growth.
This is my personal opinion. I'm an outsider. My family is not originally from the Midwest, or St. Louis. We are military, and that brought us to the east side. I consider the east side my home town, as they have treated our family well, and with an open mind,
^ I really like how there is farm land just minutes from downtown and in many ways I like the Metro East more than the soulless, endless sprawl that defines the Missouri middle and outer burbs. If Metro East can grow in a smart way that keeps its small town character that would be really cool.
^I grew up in Columbia, IL and always thought it was cool that I could leave my (at the time) very small town and be in downtown St. Louis in under 20 minutes.
