Chicago's population grew by only 82 residents last year, (Washington, Paris: low income, 2013)

[Lookout Kid]

The Lookout Kid family: -4 in 2013
Other families we have seen leave for the burbs within the last two years (just off the top of my head who comes to mind first): -36

Doing our part to destroy Chicago. That's half of the population gain. And that's pretty much just friends of ours, not people extended in to acquaintances and work networks. All are educated and work in "Creative Class" type of fields. Gone.

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by FAReastcoast

You are correct middle class residents are leaving too, but so are the poor. Tens of thousands of housing projects have been torn down over the past decade, many stayed many left. Look at the neighborhoods with the highest % of population loss, the majority are from poor neighborhoods. The fact is the city is getting wealthier despite population loss. This is positive in my book.

No, this is no what is happening. Look at the maps again, and see the changes over time.

The city is not losing poor population. It's losing middle class population. The poor neighborhoods have grown over time, right up to the most recent Census data.

Housing projects being torn down has nothing to do with population loss, or poor people leaving the city. The people formerly living in the projects are all given Section 8 vouchers and overwhelmingly stay in the city. And in any case, most of the projects were torn down a long time ago, yet the poor neighborhoods continue to grow (probably because the former project residents now live in city neighborhoods that were middle class a generation ago).

You are right that the greatest population losses in Chicago are in the South and West sides, but you are missing the specific trend- those areas are getting poorer because the remaining middle class population is leaving. So the population flight does not benefit the city because it leaves the South and West sides poorer.

[NOLA101]

Mod cut: Orphaned (quoted post has been deleted).

Why would you not want to attract people of all races? No city is going to succeed on the basis of being racist and exclusionary.

And Chicago is not only losing black people; the last Census showed that Chicago lost 53,000 white people, or 6% of the population.

[FAReastcoast]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

No, this is no what is happening. Look at the maps again, and see the changes over time.

The city is not losing poor population. It's losing middle class population. The poor neighborhoods have grown over time, right up to the most recent Census data.

Housing projects being torn down has nothing to do with population loss, or poor people leaving the city. The people formerly living in the projects are all given Section 8 vouchers and overwhelmingly stay in the city. And in any case, most of the projects were torn down a long time ago, yet the poor neighborhoods continue to grow (probably because the former project residents now live in city neighborhoods that were middle class a generation ago).

You are right that the greatest population losses in Chicago are in the South and West sides, but you are missing the specific trend- those areas are getting poorer because the remaining middle class population is leaving. So the population flight does not benefit the city because it leaves the South and West sides poorer.

I guess my point is from my first post is in ok with middle class families leaving the city on the south and west sides of it means the poor leave too. I'm ok with throwing the baby out with the bath water and starting over. Ultimately though I am not vested enough in Chicago as a entire city to make it better though. I really only am interested in the wealthy neighborhoods of Chicago.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Chicago's population will start to pick up eventually. Thinking that Philly or Houston will surpass it in the near future is complete nonsense. Chicago will remain the 3rd largest city and MSA.

There's no need for Chicago residents to lose any sleep over this.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Chicago MSA 9.5 million people

Houston MSA 5.9 million people

3.6 million difference

[urbanchillage]

Good - more can leave and help drive down the cost of real estate so I can buy a better house in a nicer neighborhood where I will happily raise my family in this great city.

[ChicagoMeO]

some of the people are leaving because they are shot at and killed, drive bys and gang-banging people - innocents sitting on their front porch and rival gang members, and they are making the population go down, so you can add that to the population changes in Chicago.

[Lookout Kid]

I wonder what the population of incarcerated people from Chicago is? Nearly 50,000 people are in Illinois prisons, and you have to believe that a good portion of those are from Chicago. And 500 murders per year nets a -5,000 people over a decade. Combined that's a city the size of Oak Park lost to criminal activity, or a larger city "Community Area".

[edsg25]

how much sleep do you think San Francisco and Boston lose because they are smaller than Houston?