Wilmington in Delaware has been encountering a drop in their local population since the 2000s. A considerable portion of those who decided to leave were younger people, with almost a quarter aged between 18 and 34, but there is some hope that not all young people will go.
Wilmington has good schools, meaning that more parents would want to move to the city to give their kids the best education possible.
Flint, Michigan
With the water crisis in Flint being well-documented, the city has become one of North America's most impoverished. General Motors was once the reason behind Flint's booming population, but reducing its operations led to a decline in available jobs.
Back in the 60s, Flint’s population was 196,000, but fast-forward to 2018, and that number has shrunk to 95,943, meaning the city has lost more than half of its people.
Fairmont, Minnesota
Nowadays, many people in Fairmont, Minnesota, have fallen on difficult times. Within the early months of 2015, the city lost Fairmont Foods, and when this significant employer closed, the city’s hospital also started having financial problems. In 2019 rent prices soared to almost 50% higher than the average income in Fairmont, meaning people were being out-priced of the city.
Considering everything, it’s not a massive surprise that Fairmont has lost 5.4% of its residents since 2010, with economic hardships on the rise.
North Platte, Nebraska
North Platte is just one of Nebraska's cities and towns across Lincoln County that has seen its population shrink in recent times. North Platte is best known for the museums, historic railways, and freight trains, but despite these attractions, residents across the county are decreasing.
North Platte saw an emigration of 3.7% of its inhabitants since 2010. It’s believed that economic issues are the leading cause of this trend.
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown was traditionally known as a center of steel production. Still, when the U.S. steel industry fell into decline in the 1970s, it was forced to redefine itself, leaving communities throughout the city without work, resulting in a drop of over 60% of its population since 1959.
In the 1950s, Youngstown had a flourishing population of 168,000, but those numbers have since been waning; a census in 2018 confirmed there were now just 64,958 residents living in the city. With a lack of jobs giving people a fair living wage, many citizens explore new areas for a fresh start in their lives.