Population Estimates Show Pandemic Exodus From Cities Wasn’t Permanent

ACROSS AMERICA — A new 2022 population estimate released Thursday by the Census Bureau shows pandemic-era exodus from America’s largest cities to less densely populated suburbs was not permanent.

The new report shows that all but one of the 10 largest cities — Philadelphia — saw their populations increase from 2021 to 2022. But only about half of mid-sized cities saw an increase in their populations over the period, and America’s small towns saw uneven growth patterns.

Of the 10 largest cities, the biggest turnarounds were San Francisco, Seattle, Nashville, Boston, New York City, San Jose, Dallas and Milwaukee.

“Georgetown, Texas, remained the fastest-growing city by percent change in 2022, with the highest rate of growth among all U.S. cities and towns with at least 50,000 people. It wasn’t the only city to retain its distinction over the year, however,” said C

“New York remained the nation’s largest city, despite its recent population decline,” Crystal Delbé, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division, said in a news release.

At 8.3 million, its population was more than twice that of the next largest city, Los Angeles, with a population of nearly 4 million.

Only about half of mid-sized cities with populations between 50,000 and 500,000 saw any recovery from pandemic population losses, according to an analysis of the data by William Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institute.

The report also showed that of the nine fastest-growing cities in the South, six were in Texas.

Georgetown, Texas, remained the fastest-growing city by percent change in 2022, with the highest rate of growth among all U.S. cities and towns with at least 50,000 people.

Texas was notable with more than three cities on both the 15 fastest-growing large cities and towns by numeric change and by percent change lists. Fort Worth, Texas, had the largest numeric population gain in 2022, with an increase of 19,170 people. Phoenix, Arizona (19,053); San Antonio, Texas (18,889); Seattle, Washington (17,749); and Charlotte, North Carolina (15,217), rounded out the top five cities by numeric growth.

About 40 percent of the nation’s population (129.6 million people) lived in cities of 50,000 or more people in 2022, but America remains a nation of small towns.

Of approximately 19,500 incorporated towns, 75 percent had fewer than 5,000 people, and 33 percent had fewer than 500. In these communities, growth was uneven from 2021 to 2022.

In general, the population of small towns declined by 0.4 percent in the Northeast and 0.2 percent in the Midwest, and grew by 0.4 percent in the South and 0.5 percent in the West.