How much has your metro area grown?

[CapeCodder]

Title.

My example would be St. Louis (I spent 1996-2012 there.) When I was a kid, I always thought St. Louis "ended" at the 64/40/61 interchange in the west. Now the subdivisions/developments are filling in the gaps between Wentzville and Warrenton. As late as 2010 Foristell was considered the sticks.

[Rothman]

Title.

My example would be St. Louis (I spent 1996-2012 there.) When I was a kid, I always thought St. Louis "ended" at the 64/40/61 interchange in the west. Now the subdivisions/developments are filling in the gaps between Wentzville and Warrenton. As late as 2010 Foristell was considered the sticks.

Interesting how the Saint Louis MSA has increased by 800,000 since 1950 while the City itself has lost 500,000.

[CapeCodder]

Title.

My example would be St. Louis (I spent 1996-2012 there.) When I was a kid, I always thought St. Louis "ended" at the 64/40/61 interchange in the west. Now the subdivisions/developments are filling in the gaps between Wentzville and Warrenton. As late as 2010 Foristell was considered the sticks.

Interesting how the Saint Louis MSA has increased by 800,000 since 1950 while the City itself has lost 500,000.

St. Charles and Franklin Counties are sucking up that population. Warren is too, but not like the area from Washington to St. Clair; it's known as the "Southwest Plex"

[Max Rockatansky]

I was born in Detroit during 1982.  Metro Detroit has stayed at about the same population in the forty years I've been alive.  The city of Detroit on the other hand has lost about half it's population.

[Flint1979]

I was born in Flint but live in Saginaw now. Flint consists of Genesee County which had a peak population of 450,449 in 1980, in 2020 it had a population of 406,211. Flint city proper had a peak population of 196,940 in 1960, when I was born the following year was 1980 which had a population of 159,611. Flint was still somewhat in it's prime when I was born, there were 80,000 General Motors employees in the city of Flint in 1978, the year before I was born today that number is down to 5,000 or under. Flint's population in the 2020 census was 81,252 which means Flint has lost 115,000 people over the past 60 years, almost 2,000 people per year.

Saginaw isn't much different than Flint other than it's smaller. Saginaw is part of the Tri-Cities area though which includes Midland and Bay City. Saginaw city proper had a peak population of 98,265 in 1960, it was 77,508 in 1980 and 44,202 in 2020. Saginaw County had a peak population of 228,059 in 1980 and 190,124 in 2020.

All of Michigan's major cities except for Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor have lost population.

[Bruce]

Washington started enforcing urban growth boundaries in the early 1990s, but that hasn't prevented sprawl from spilling over.



From 1980 to 2020, the tri-county metro population for Seattle grew from 2.10 million to 4.02 million. My county alone grew 245% (338K to 828K) in that period.

[Dirt Roads]

The Triangle has exploded in population since I first worked here on the railroad back in the mid-1980s.  Raleigh-Durham was once an MSA, but was split into two separate MSAs at least by 2010.  Back in the 1980 United States Census, the Raleigh-Durham MSA was comprised of only 3 counties (Wake, Durham and Orange) had a population of 635,008.  In the most recent United States Census, the Raleigh-Cary MSA had a population of 1,413,982 and the Durham-Chapel Hill MSA had a population of 649,903.  The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill CMSA has grown to include 9 counties (adding Johnston, Franklin, Vance and Lee to the Raleigh MSA; adding Chatham, Person and Granville to the Durham MSA), for a combined total of 2,106,463 (includes the Henderson μSA, ergo Vance County).  That is a 224% increase since 1980.

Jumping up to July, 2022:  Raleigh-Cary comes in at 1,489,947 and Durham-Chapel Hill 670,863.  Adding in Vance County (42,051), we get a derived total for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill CMSA of 2,202,861.  That's a 4.5% increase in just a little over 2 years and 247% increase since 1980.

[westerninterloper]

I was born in Flint but live in Saginaw now. Flint consists of Genesee County which had a peak population of 450,449 in 1980, in 2020 it had a population of 406,211. Flint city proper had a peak population of 196,940 in 1960, when I was born the following year was 1980 which had a population of 159,611. Flint was still somewhat in it's prime when I was born, there were 80,000 General Motors employees in the city of Flint in 1978, the year before I was born today that number is down to 5,000 or under. Flint's population in the 2020 census was 81,252 which means Flint has lost 115,000 people over the past 60 years, almost 2,000 people per year.

Saginaw isn't much different than Flint other than it's smaller. Saginaw is part of the Tri-Cities area though which includes Midland and Bay City. Saginaw city proper had a peak population of 98,265 in 1960, it was 77,508 in 1980 and 44,202 in 2020. Saginaw County had a peak population of 228,059 in 1980 and 190,124 in 2020.

All of Michigan's major cities except for Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor have lost population.

Secondary cities in the midwest built on a single industry - largely steel and automobiles - suffered mightily since the 1970s.

Youngstown MSA peak: 1980, 434K; 2020, 352K
Gary city peak: 1960, 168K; 2020; 68K
Flint MSA peak: 2000, 365K; 2020: 244K - Flint seems to have dropped less, perhaps because its southern reaches are on the growing side of Metro Detroit.

[Takumi]

The Richmond metro area has slowly but steadily grown. In the past 30 years it went from 732,000 to 1,140,000.

[Flint1979]

I was born in Flint but live in Saginaw now. Flint consists of Genesee County which had a peak population of 450,449 in 1980, in 2020 it had a population of 406,211. Flint city proper had a peak population of 196,940 in 1960, when I was born the following year was 1980 which had a population of 159,611. Flint was still somewhat in it's prime when I was born, there were 80,000 General Motors employees in the city of Flint in 1978, the year before I was born today that number is down to 5,000 or under. Flint's population in the 2020 census was 81,252 which means Flint has lost 115,000 people over the past 60 years, almost 2,000 people per year.

Saginaw isn't much different than Flint other than it's smaller. Saginaw is part of the Tri-Cities area though which includes Midland and Bay City. Saginaw city proper had a peak population of 98,265 in 1960, it was 77,508 in 1980 and 44,202 in 2020. Saginaw County had a peak population of 228,059 in 1980 and 190,124 in 2020.

All of Michigan's major cities except for Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor have lost population.

Secondary cities in the midwest built on a single industry - largely steel and automobiles - suffered mightily since the 1970s.

Youngstown MSA peak: 1980, 434K; 2020, 352K
Gary city peak: 1960, 168K; 2020; 68K
Flint MSA peak: 2000, 365K; 2020: 244K - Flint seems to have dropped less, perhaps because its southern reaches are on the growing side of Metro Detroit.

The growing side of Metro Detroit is really northern Macomb County which is more east from Flint. There's about a 15 mile gap before you start getting into Metro Detroit.

moto g power (2022)

[JayhawkCO]

Denver, from a size perspective, has gained 4 counties in its MSA over the past 20 years - Elbert, Clear Creek, Park, and Gilpin.

Realistically, the whole area from Denver to Fort Collins to the north, to Colorado Springs to the south, and to Boulder to the northwest have more or less filled in. Colorado Springs to Pueblo will probably fill in in the next 10-15 years too.

[Max Rockatansky]

What's strange about the Fresno Metro area is that it basically includes almost every incorporated city in Fresno County and Madera County.  While I don't agree with that definition given some cities like Mendota are clearly way outside of the Fresno city sphere of influence (see Coalinga and Mendota) most have roughly doubled in population since 1980.  The Fresno metro area was at a population of 1,171,617 on the 2020 census.

[zzcarp]

Denver, from a size perspective, has gained 4 counties in its MSA over the past 20 years - Elbert, Clear Creek, Park, and Gilpin.

It's odd to see these counties added. Except Elbert, each is geographically separated from the main front range counties by the front range foothills and have little-to-no urbanization whatsoever. It's also telling what's not included in the MSA-Boulder County and Weld County, the latter of which especially is contributing to suburban sprawl and growth up north.

Realistically, the whole area from Denver to Fort Collins to the north, to Colorado Springs to the south, and to Boulder to the northwest have more or less filled in. Colorado Springs to Pueblo will probably fill in in the next 10-15 years too.

There's still a lot of property north of town that's not yet developed between Denver and Fort Collins. I'd say 20-30 years before that suburbanization fills in, water-permitting of course.

I doubt we're 10-15 years from the Springs and Pueblo filling in. I can see Pueblo growing as it is affordable compared to Denver and even the Springs, but there's about 20 miles of essentially desert between Pueblo and Fountain. That's a whole lot of nothing through which to install water infrastructure to service this potential urban corridor, and the $2 billion dollar question is where is the water supply to service this area?

[JayhawkCO]

Denver, from a size perspective, has gained 4 counties in its MSA over the past 20 years - Elbert, Clear Creek, Park, and Gilpin.

It's odd to see these counties added. Except Elbert, each is geographically separated from the main front range counties by the front range foothills and have little-to-no urbanization whatsoever. It's also telling what's not included in the MSA-Boulder County and Weld County, the latter of which especially is contributing to suburban sprawl and growth up north.

I think there are plenty of commuters from those four new counties, in both directions in some case.

Park is probably included since people commute from Bailey.
Gilpin has people driving from Denver to work at the casinos.
Clear Creek has people commuting from Idaho Springs.
Elbert has people commuting from Elizabeth.

Realistically, the whole area from Denver to Fort Collins to the north, to Colorado Springs to the south, and to Boulder to the northwest have more or less filled in. Colorado Springs to Pueblo will probably fill in in the next 10-15 years too.

There's still a lot of property north of town that's not yet developed between Denver and Fort Collins. I'd say 20-30 years before that suburbanization fills in, water-permitting of course.

I doubt we're 10-15 years from the Springs and Pueblo filling in. I can see Pueblo growing as it is affordable compared to Denver and even the Springs, but there's about 20 miles of essentially desert between Pueblo and Fountain. That's a whole lot of nothing through which to install water infrastructure to service this potential urban corridor, and the $2 billion dollar question is where is the water supply to service this area?

There's a lot of property not filled in, for sure. But at least along I-25, it's certainly not just all farmland all the way to Loveland like it used to be.

[Roadgeekteen]

Metro Boston had grown very slowly over the years

[zachary_amaryllis]

The Greater Poudre Canyon Metro Area pretty much has the same number it always has.

Fort Collins, on the other hand, has exploded. The 'triangle' comprising Foco, Loveland, and Greeley, with Windsor in the middle is nuts.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The Twin Cities MSA has grown by about 300,000 per decade the last 30 years.

[CapeCodder]

I was born in Flint but live in Saginaw now. Flint consists of Genesee County which had a peak population of 450,449 in 1980, in 2020 it had a population of 406,211. Flint city proper had a peak population of 196,940 in 1960, when I was born the following year was 1980 which had a population of 159,611. Flint was still somewhat in it's prime when I was born, there were 80,000 General Motors employees in the city of Flint in 1978, the year before I was born today that number is down to 5,000 or under. Flint's population in the 2020 census was 81,252 which means Flint has lost 115,000 people over the past 60 years, almost 2,000 people per year.

Saginaw isn't much different than Flint other than it's smaller. Saginaw is part of the Tri-Cities area though which includes Midland and Bay City. Saginaw city proper had a peak population of 98,265 in 1960, it was 77,508 in 1980 and 44,202 in 2020. Saginaw County had a peak population of 228,059 in 1980 and 190,124 in 2020.

All of Michigan's major cities except for Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor have lost population.

Secondary cities in the midwest built on a single industry - largely steel and automobiles - suffered mightily since the 1970s.

Youngstown MSA peak: 1980, 434K; 2020, 352K
Gary city peak: 1960, 168K; 2020; 68K
Flint MSA peak: 2000, 365K; 2020: 244K - Flint seems to have dropped less, perhaps because its southern reaches are on the growing side of Metro Detroit.

The growing side of Metro Detroit is really northern Macomb County which is more east from Flint. There's about a 15 mile gap before you start getting into Metro Detroit.

moto g power (2022)

I think it'll be a long time before the Columbia and westernmost STL suburbs merge. When I was a kid it seemed that:

-By the time you hit Wentzville, I-70 was down to four lanes and it was quite rural.
-Anything past MO 141 on I-44 was out in the sticks (I remember camping out at the scout reservation and it was DARK at night, very little light pollution, despite the very well developed Meramec Valley literally being four miles down the road.)
-Jefferson County took a long time to become built up. Up until the late 90s/early aughts, 55 was relatively bereft of service road development. The US 67 corridor from Festus-Farmington also seemed insulated from suburban sprawl of St. Louis.

[Great Lakes Roads]

The Indy metro (especially the ones in the northern suburbs) has grown rapidly in the past 20-30 years...

[achilles765]

Houston has grown so much that it's estimated we will overtake Chicago and become the third largest city in the US by 2030. I really thought we'd get there by 2020 but we didn't. We are close. I also don't totally trust the 2020 census numbers between the pandemic and the trump admin adding that citizenship question. We have alot of undocumented residents and I know several people who didn't trust answering the census survey. I'd estimate at least 100,000 people weren't counted.

[Rothman]

Past performance is a shaky foundation upon which to predict future results.

[chrisdiaz]

I'm in the Myrtle Beach metro area - enough said. We've been growing at about 3-4% annually for the last 50ish years. I love living here due to the growth - there are so many road projects in the works

[Roadgeekteen]

Houston has grown so much that it's estimated we will overtake Chicago and become the third largest city in the US by 2030. I really thought we'd get there by 2020 but we didn't. We are close. I also don't totally trust the 2020 census numbers between the pandemic and the trump admin adding that citizenship question. We have alot of undocumented residents and I know several people who didn't trust answering the census survey. I'd estimate at least 100,000 people weren't counted.

Houston might pass Chicago in city limits in it isn't even about Dallas in terms of metro area population.

[Road Hog]

The DFW metro seems to be adding about 100,000 people a year. That would come out to a million every census. If there's a nationwide recession, the growth might actually increase because Texas has been recession-resistant since getting off the oil tit in the 1990s.

[golden eagle]

Metro Jackson was at 362038 when 1980 when it was a three-county metro. Today, it's five counties with a population of 548235. Even if you took out Copiah and Simpson (the two recent additions), the population would be 493918. This is despite the city of Jackson's population falling from 202895 in 1980 to 153701 in 2020.