Stuck in the City: Census Estimates Suggests People Trapped

The Chicago Tribune reports:

The Great Recession has helped stabilize the population of big cities including Chicago, which after the loss of 200,000 residents in the last decade saw a slight uptick, according toU.S. Census Bureau estimates being released Thursday.

The 2010 census pegged Chicago's population at 2,695,598, but a July 2011 census estimate indicates the city was bigger by 11,522 people, an increase of less than 0.5 percent, the Census Bureau said.

Not much, but enough to suggest at least a temporary end to the city's decade-long population plummet, said Rob Paral, a Chicago-based demographer. "It's generally a good indicator," Paral said.

The new census data show that, in general, cities last year grew faster than the suburbs that have long lured urban dwellers. Unfortunately, that's probably because many people can't afford to move, demographers said.

"What the recession has done is frozen people in place so they can't move as much as they have done (before)," said Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire. "Chicago is losing less migrants."

Great moments of urban America.