Brookings population study

The rate of population growth in cities has almost pulled even with the suburbs, according to an analysis of 2009 US. Census estimates by William Frey of Brookings Institution. The figures — the last estimates before the results of the 2010 census are released this December — show that in the nation’s 52 metropolitan areas of over 1 million population, suburban growth slowed in 2008-2009 as compared to the rate in 2004-2005.

The slowdown in suburban growth was “especially pronounced outside of Sunbelt cities such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, Raleigh, Atlanta, Nashville, and Orlando,” Frey said. “Moreover, the growth rate differential between suburbs and cities narrowed considerably over the latter half of the decade (1.1 percent versus 1.0 percent in 2008–2009, compared with 1.3 percent versus 0.6 percent in 2004–2005),” Frey wrote in a report issued by Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program.

“Of the 34 cities with populations exceeding one million, 19 —including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago — grew faster in 2008–2009 than the year before, and 23 grew faster than at mid-decade when many migrants were following the boom to suburbs, exurbs, and smaller places,” Frey said. “Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, and Washington D.C. each exhibited their fastest growth of the decade in the past year.”