Youngstown’s Huge Population Decline

[northside lurker]

I would guess that the population has continued to decline because of the scarcity of good
paying jobs in the local area... good neighborhoods and a good school system still do not
put food on the table at the end of the day...

I agree that lack of jobs is probably a major contributor.  But you'd be surprised how often people ask about moving to Youngstown on City-Data.com. (it's not everyday or anything, but moving to Youngstown comes up more often than moving to Canton, for example)  And, the most common response is some variation of: "don't move to the city, all of the suburbs are great!"

[AllanY2525]

I would guess that the population has continued to decline because of the scarcity of good
paying jobs in the local area... good neighborhoods and a good school system still do not
put food on the table at the end of the day...

[northside lurker]

But why did the population decline increase, as the crime rate decreased?

[sfc_oliver]

Here's a reason.

Summer of 2000 there was a juvenile fight across the street from where i lived on the South Side.  I started across the street to break it up.

One of the Juveniles pulled out a gun and fired it in the air. There were children as young as 5 years old standing around.

I called the police, I told them about the gunfire and the kids name who had the gun. The kid left and took the gun home then came back.

When the police showed up they never asked about the gun.

My sister told me to drop it that he was "a good kid"

3 months later and a block away that same "good kid" killed 2 other "good' kids. With the same gun.

This is only one small incident that makes good people leave the city. But hey, that's just my own opinion.

[Youngstownshrimp]

The concepts and examples are available for pockets of growth, the missing link has always been demand, population decline has always equalled demand decline.  Again, as I have been writing here, demand has changed overnight because of the leasing rush on land.  I am on my way to a meeting wherein an old family with acreage in the City is now going to pay property taxes from now forward.  As others, they could not afford to pay taxes on land that did not produce revenue itself.  The delinquent land in Mahoning county is in a good position now, because all delinquent taxes from 2005 back are totally expunged and here is the best part, if taxes are paid from now forward, back taxes from 2005 if cert. were sold, expire every year starting with the oldest year.

Point here is that investors are buying property in the City aggressively because of the oil.  Land is being absorbed now but lots with houses are soon to follow because every parcel is part of the puzzle to create the 640 acres the energy companies want.  Here is another tip, as we speak, in a few months because tax certs. are being negotiated now, all property in Youngstown over five acres will be current and tax generating.

[northside lurker]

IMHO, we can't demolish our way to population gain.  I understand, and agree with the general concept of the shrinking city.  But if we want people to consider living in the city, we need to select some neighborhoods, and make them desirable places to live.  YNDC is starting to do this, (in the Idora neighborhood, for example) but I haven't heard how successful they have been.

[jay]

There are many senior citizens living in my area.  Look for the population of Youngstown to drop even more rapidly in the next ten years.

[Towntalk]

Can you say 66,982?

That is Youngstown's current population according to the 2010 census.

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/mar/10/2010-census-results/

Something tells me that when the districts are redrawn that the 17th district will end up on the short end of the stick.