During the early days of the pandemic, cities across the country saw population losses as work from home ruled the day and residents who could do so left for more space in the suburbs or rural areas.
During the first year of the pandemic, the nation's largest 88 cities lost about 1% of their collective population. But there are signs the trend might be reversing.
An analysis of recent Census data by the Brookings Institution shows a number of cities regaining population. Others are experiencing a much slower rate of population loss. And some, like Cincinnati, are even growing at a slightly faster rate than their surrounding suburbs.
From 2021 to 2022, Cincinnati's population grew 0.3% — about 900 people — to 309,513. It's not much, but it's a recovery of almost all the population the city lost during the first year of the pandemic. And it's higher than the 0.2% growth rate the rest of the metropolitan area saw.
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That's especially noteworthy because prior to the pandemic, the suburbs around Cincinnati outpaced the city itself in terms of population growth up to 2019. Is it a blip? Possibly. But it also suggests that Cincinnati is back on track to continuing population gains it started before COVID-19 hit.
Some suburban municipalities, like Mason, gained population, of course. But others lost residents. Forest Park went from 20,048 residents in 2021 to 19,878 in 2022, according to Census data. Deer Park saw slight population loss as well, as did Mariemont and other small municipalities.
But not all urban centers are growing, and many cities in Ohio, including Cleveland, lost population in 2022. Columbus was the big winner in the Buckeye state. It's the 14th largest city in the country with more than 900,000 residents. It grew 0.54% last year.