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Originally Posted by Barrelfish
Thanks all for the really interesting analysis of the census data. Here is my attempt to summarize the big themes - anything I got wrong or missed?
Overall, Chicago city proper grew slightly (+1.9% from 2010-2020). This was enough to maintain its #3 population rank, but was slower than any other top 25 city.
That overall growth number is largely the result of two big opposing trends:
- Significant growth in the core and along the lakefront (on both the north and south sides)
- ...largely offset by slowed-down (but still significant) "black flight" from a handful of south and west-side neighborhoods which suffer from concentrated poverty and crime.
Racial mix stayed at roughly 30/30/30 White/Latino/Black, with 7% Asian, 3% mixed race and other. Racial segregation seems to be trending down across the whole city (non-blacks moving into historically black neighborhoods, non-whites into historically white neighborhoods, etc.)
Zooming out, the Chicago metro area remains #3 in population, but is one of the slowest growing large metros (+144K or +1.7% from 2010-2020). The suburbs in aggregate are growing more slowly than the city, and the growth was slower the farther you go out.
The state outside of the Chicago MSA lost significant population (-162K / -3.8%), so overall state population declined slightly.
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Basically.
If Chicago could have the sheer scale of Asian immigration that NY or LA typically has, Chicago would have population growth in the bag.
Our paltry Asian numbers just aren’t enough to combat black flight and the slowdown in Mexican immigrations.
South Asians come in large numbers but a large chunk of them wind up in the suburbs.