Quote:
Originally Posted by left of center
I wonder what their metrics are? Is it just the downtown/central areas they are counting? Because Chicago has been treading water when it comes to population gains, with huge swatch of the city depopulating, yet we are #2 on that list.
|
Their metrics are obviously the US Census Department's American Community Survey and your assessment of Chicago's population is partially false. The big area around Englewood and Auburn Gresham are losing most of the population that the city is losing, with some around Austin as well but overall not bad loss there - not even close to the areas of the south side.
The rest of the city region wise is gaining population with of course downtown leading the way. Between 2010 and 2015, 48 of 77 community areas in Chicago gained population and many, many community areas that lost population between 2000 and 2010 have reversed and are now gaining people. If those areas only lost 1/4 of what they did, then Chicago's population gain would have been over 55K people since 2010 aka over double of what it was. That's not a huge growth, but it's a lot better than what the overall number is. Essentially the gains of the north side and downtown are being offset by the losses of Englewood, West Englewood, Auburn Gresham, etc. Areas like the SW side and south lakefront (i.e. Bronzeville) are gaining in population.
Technically most websites and publications get things wrong though. They compare the ACS to decennial census which you aren't necessarily supposed to do - at least the Census department says you shouldn't. If we compare just the 2010 ACS to 2015 ACS, then the density of the community areas that make up the greater downtown area increased by 3364 ppsm. If you leave out Near West Side then the increase of density was 4545 ppsm in Loop, Near North, and Near South combined.