Record Population Decline: New York State Loses Over 300,000 Residents in a Year

Reading time: 2 min — Spotted on Times Union

319,020 people: this is the number of inhabitants lost by the State of New York between July 2020 and July 2021, according to statistics provided by the New York Times Union website. The population of this state decreased by 1.6%, falling at the same time below the 20 million mark. According to the last census, there would be 19,835,913 inhabitants in what is the fourth most populous state in the country (behind California, Texas and Florida).

This rather impressive population decline is an American record: no other state has lost so many inhabitants over the same period, whether we take into account the number of individuals or the percentage. Even California, twice as populous, lost only 0.7% of its population, or 261,902 people. It currently has more than 39 million inhabitants.

Moreover, all the states are far from having suffered a drop in population. Texas, Florida or even Arizona even gained between 1% and 1.4% of inhabitants between July 2020 and July 2021. The United States did not suddenly empty out of their citizens: certain States were just deserted, for the benefit of others. Over the year in question, the American population even increased by 0.1%. Which is certainly the lowest rate of increase since the creation of the country.

Saturation

The Covid-19 is no stranger to this influx of departures from New York State, but indirectly: “We are not leaving because of the pandemic, explains a resident of Staten Island (one of the five boroughs of New York City). But she gave us the opportunity to leave.” For Florida, in this case.

The city of New York is the main affected by these departures, losing more than 350,000 inhabitants alone. As a result, the rest of the state even saw its population increase slightly. Main reason for this massive exile: the desire to join more modest, less dense and less extensive cities, in order to gain in quality of life and tranquility.

Between 2010 and 2020, the state’s population had increased by 4 million people. This represents an increase of 25% in ten years. Recently, many residents of New York State have moved back, even if their departure does not prevent the number of moves recorded in the United States in 2021 from being the lowest for seventy years.

2021-12-26 08:00:00
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