Boston Population?

[M. Brown]

Boston seems to be loosing its population from 2000 to the 2002 est. Do you think this was just a mis count, people moving out, or just college students moving out.

[Allan]

Families are still probably moving out. The only way to keep families in any city is to have good schools. The new people moving into the city are mostly empty nesters and single people, and not enough of them are moving in to displace the number of families moving out. This is not just happening in Boston, but in most major American cities. We might see a reversal of the trend if the urban schools improve, but until then the trend will probably continue.

[M. Brown]

What the US should do is judge a city's size by its metro instead of its city proper pop just like Australia.

[tocoto]

According to the US census, MA has gained about 100,000 in the last 3 years, NH about 50,000. Those people are probably mostly in the Boston metro, so I would say it has grown. I couldn't find a metro estimate for 2002. The city estmate I saw said the pop. had grown to 591,000 from 589,000.

[M. Brown]

It was 591,000 in 2001 but the dropped again.

[Allan]

It was 591,000 in 2001 but the dropped again.

How much did it drop? It couldn't have have dropped very much. Maybe the population began dropping slightly when the economy went into the recession.

[M. Brown]

It peaked at 591,707 in 2001, then it dropped to 589,281 in 2002 which is lower than it was in 2000 when it was 589,403

[Allan]

That's only 2426 people. I doubt that's an indication that the population will continue to slide.

[M. Brown]

I think it is for one of the most denses cities in the US. Cuz ppl dont want to live dense anymore.

[Allan]

I still think it's more that families are still moving out & that not enough single people & enpty nesters are moving in to take their places. Many people I know would love to live in a major city but don't simply because the urban schools are not very good when compared to suburban schools.

[M. Brown]

It may be a combo of the two

[Allan]

One interesting thing that I discovered last year was that many of my friends & classmates actually do want to move to the downtown of a major city. In fact, I'd say it's close to 50%. I was quite surprised myself . So not everyone is running away from density.

[M. Brown]

Interesting. I think im going to do a survey like that

[Allan]

Yeah, that would be interesting.

Cities people I talked to said they wanted to move to were Boston, Chicago, San Franciso, Los Angeles, & Philadelphia. I found that interesting because everyone talks about how people are moving to the sunbelt, yet not a single one of the people I talked to talked about moving to a place like Charlotte, Atlanta, Miami, or Houston. They all seemed to prefer a more northern city. Chicago was the clear first choice, mainly because it offers everything Detroit used to have & more. It'll be interesting to see at the class reunion where everyone does actually end up.

[M. Brown]

Ya. Actually I know a few ppl who want to move to Arizona and LA.

[Allan]

Arizona? LOL. The only way I could ever move there was if Phoenix actually developed a decent sized downtown. And even then the summer temperatures still might be enough to keep me away.

[Guest donaltopablo]

I've move to LA, San Diego, or Phoenix before I moved to Boston. San Fran would probably be up there on my list as well. Atlanta, Charlotte, and others would not.

[tocoto]

I can't imaging moving to LA or especially Phoenix before Boston. Both cities have rediculous smog and really aren't much fun to walk in. The Phoenix summer is every bit as intense and uncomfortable as the Boston winter. LA has some great sites like getty museum, and the beach and surrounding desert. Phoenix has desert and mountains nearby. Boston has better museums and cultural attractions than either, it has gorgous beachs and mountains, its wonderful to walk in, and has good public transport. There's so much to see and do nearby in NH, ME and RI. The cape, NYC, philly and DC are easy weekend getaways. SD has nice weather and a beautiful location.