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.
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.
Wilmington, Delaware
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.
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.
Anchorage, Alaska
Alaska has had to take it up a notch to get more people to move to the state in recent years, and according to the 2010 census, it worked! People were granted economic incentives to relocate to Anchorage by the Alaskan state, and in 2010 the population grew by 12%.
Even though Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city, it still seems as though they struggle, with the number of people fleeing Anchorage on the rise.