Thread by @JedKolko

Urban population growth has essentially stopped.

This morning Census released its annual county population estimates for 2019. (Obviously all pre-COVID19.)

Short thread.

Lower-density suburbs continue to have the fastest population growth. Population has slowed in most places, and in urban counties nearly to zero.

Urban county growth is at the level of non-metropolitan (mostly rural) population growth.

Earlier this decade, urban population growth slowed (after a housing-crisis increase) as domestic out-migration resumed.

But in the past couple years, the decline in immigration has contributed more to the urban growth slowdown.

Urban counties are more dependent on immigration for growth than other places are.

But booming low-density suburbs grow because of domestic in-migration.

Among the 53 metros with at least a million people, 12 lost population in 2019.

An additional 7 would have shrunk without immigration:

Miami
Boston
Providence
San Diego
San Francisco
Milwaukee
New Orleans.

Big is not beautiful.

Among the 53 metros with at least a million people, the largest population losses -- in _percentage_ terms -- were in the three biggest metros: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Some metros with solid population growth since 2010 lost people this past year (to 2019):

California metros like San Jose, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo.

College towns like Ann Arbor MI, State College PA, and Morgantown WV.

The fastest growing metros were mostly smaller places in the South and West.

Among larger metros, Austin returned to the top spot.

Honolulu remained the slowest growing (in fact, shrinking) larger metro.

Lots of rural counties in most regions shrank in the 2010s -- less so in the rural West.

census.gov/newsroom/press…