Thread: Population drastically declines in Ohio cities

Population drastically declines in Ohio cities

Posted 13m ago |

Ohio's major cities continued their drastic decline during the past decade, illustrating that hard times show no signs of easing in the industrial heartland.

Places that once prospered from making things — steel, tires, cash registers, bikes — continued a free-fall that started a half-century ago and may be getting worse, according to Census Bureau population numbers released Wednesday.

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Youngstown, Dayton and Akron all suffered huge population declines from 2000 to 2010.

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Cleveland lost 17% of its population to fall to 396,815 — its fewest inhabitants since 1900. The city peaked in 1950 at 914,808. More residents abandoned the city from 2000 to 2010 than in the 1990s. Nearby suburbs shrank, too, although some population growth occurred in distant suburbs.

"These trends are much bigger than government can do anything about, not that government shouldn't try," says Cleveland State University demographer Mark Salling.

The lack of immigrants hurts Ohio's cities. Unlike cities in other states, Ohio's cities are gaining few Hispanic residents, says Brookings Institution demographer William Frey.

The sole exception to the declining fortunes of Ohio cities was Columbus. The state capital and home of Ohio State University grew 11% in the decade and is twice as big as Cleveland.

The manufacturing troubles in what was once among the nation's biggest and most prosperous states — birthplace of seven presidents — are causing major political and economic upheaval.

A swing state in presidential elections, Ohio will lose two Congressional seats in 2012, reducing its power in the electoral college that determines the presidency.

Under state law, Republicans control redistricting and expect to eliminate two Democratic Congress members from the industrial belt in northern Ohio. The congressional delegation will change from 13 Republicans and five Democrats to 13-3, says former Ohio Republican Party chairman Bob Bennett.

Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Cleveland mayor, will almost certainly have his district abolished, Bennett says. Other Democratic districts will be combined.

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Republicans will put some Democratic voters into Republican districts, making elections more competitive during the next decade, Bennett says. "We can protect all the Republican districts. But will all the Republicans have solidly Republican districts? Probably not," he says.

Ohio's economic change is even more dramatic than its political realignment.

The state lost 600,000 private sector jobs from 2000 to 2010 — two-thirds of them well-paid manufacturing jobs. Overall, the percentage of Ohio residents that were working fell from 50% in 2000 to 44% in 2010.

Only government employment remained stable in Ohio. The state's growth is increasingly centered around state government, higher education and other businesses near Columbus.

Delaware County, just north of Columbus, was the state's fastest growing county during the decade, up 58% to 174,214. But that growth has evaporated. Requests for new lots fell from 3,000 in 2004 to five last year, says Delaware planner Scott Sanders.

"We need the entire Midwest to be successful," says Chester Jourdan, a regional planner in Columbus.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/cen ... nsus_N.htm