Post by animus on Oct 18, 2021 3:39:55 GMT -5
Ever since i was a child I've been hearing about the population decline of our state. Everywhere I lived or visited in our country I ran into somebody from the Pittsburgh area. Tonight alone I met a few fellas from Beaver Falls and a lady from Brookline. After seeing someone mention the population decline of Pa, I just felt obliged to look into this. I felt 1960 was the perfect time frame for a potential peak population. I was very shocked at comparing 1960 to 2020.
I'm 1960 Pa had 11.3m residents; Allegheny County had 1.5m residents. In 2010 PA had 12.63m residents and in 2020 PA had a nudge over 13m people with Allegheny Co coming in with 1.25m people. I'd argue that Pa population is growing, just not as fast as the rest of the country. With that said, if the "white flight" of the 70s-90s doesn't occur, I'd imagine Pa having somewhere between 15 and 20m residents.
The thing for me is, Pittsburgh and Philly have reinvented themselves with Philly gaining population in the latest census for the first time in 50 years. The problem with Pennsylvania is steel mill and coal mining towns haven't reinvented themselves since the 70s. But on the flip side, many suburbs are seeing a rise in population IE school districts like Canon-Mac, South Fayette and Avonworth in the South Hills and Pine Richland in the North Hills plus a chunk out east. The situation in places like McKeesport and Clairton are dire. I've seen many lists with McKeesport as one of the highest violent crime rates in our entire country. I think it behooves PA to work with those areas to turn things around, whether it's some new industry or something.
I'm 1960 Pa had 11.3m residents; Allegheny County had 1.5m residents. In 2010 PA had 12.63m residents and in 2020 PA had a nudge over 13m people with Allegheny Co coming in with 1.25m people. I'd argue that Pa population is growing, just not as fast as the rest of the country. With that said, if the "white flight" of the 70s-90s doesn't occur, I'd imagine Pa having somewhere between 15 and 20m residents.
The thing for me is, Pittsburgh and Philly have reinvented themselves with Philly gaining population in the latest census for the first time in 50 years. The problem with Pennsylvania is steel mill and coal mining towns haven't reinvented themselves since the 70s. But on the flip side, many suburbs are seeing a rise in population IE school districts like Canon-Mac, South Fayette and Avonworth in the South Hills and Pine Richland in the North Hills plus a chunk out east. The situation in places like McKeesport and Clairton are dire. I've seen many lists with McKeesport as one of the highest violent crime rates in our entire country. I think it behooves PA to work with those areas to turn things around, whether it's some new industry or something.
