Chicago population rises for 2nd year in a row - Recession forces many residents to stay put

Chicago population rises for 2nd year in a row - Recession forces many residents to stay put
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
July 1, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-city-population-01-jul01,0,754485.story


For the second year in a row, Chicago's overall population increased, challenging the trend of declining population as the economy causes many urban residents to put off moves to suburbia.

From July 1, 2007, to July 1, 2008, Chicago grew by 20,606 people, according to population estimates released Wednesday by the Census Bureau. That's more than three times the previous year's reported increase of 6,400 people, which reversed five consecutive years of population declines.

Part of the explanation for Chicago's population increase are changes in domestic migration patterns. The number of residents leaving Cook County slowed by nearly 11 percent from 2006 to 2007, while those entering the county fell by only 0.4 percent, according to demographer Kenneth Johnson, a professor of the University of New Hampshire who previously taught at Loyola University Chicago.

Large cities across the country continue to lose people who leave for other communities in the United States, but the rate of loss has diminished in the last year as more people remain in place.

Chicago is still the third largest U.S. city, with 2.85 million people.