The Census Bureau reports that cities did not grow in population from 2010 to 2020. That is especially true in Mississippi, where numerous small rural cities lost population.
Take Winona for example. Its population was 5,043 in 2010. Ten years later in 2020, it was 4,505 — a drop of 10.7 percent. Montgomery County, in which Winona resides, did not fare much better, going from 10,925 in 2010 to 9,822 in 2020, a drop of 10.1 percent.
Kosciusko is another example. Its population was 7,402 in 2010. Ten years later in 2020, it was 7,114 — a drop of 3.9 percent. Attala County, in which Kosciusko resides, did not fare much better, going from 19,564 in 2010 to 17,889 in 2020, a drop of 8.6 percent.
Looking south, Columbia had a population of 6,582 in 2010. Ten years later in 2020, it was 5,864 — a drop of 10.9 percent. Marion County, in which Columbia resides, did not fare much better, going from 27,088 in 2010 to 24,441 in 2020, a drop of 9.8 percent.
McComb had a population of 12,790 in 2010. Ten years later in 2020, it was 12,413 — a drop of 2.9 percent. Pike County, in which McComb resides, went from 40,404 in 2010 to 40,324 in 2020, a drop of .2 percent.
In the Delta, things are even worse, most small cities and counties in the Delta lost about ten percent of their population between 2010 and 2020. Greenwood and Cleveland fared the best, losing only 4.7 and 9.2 percent respectively. Greenville and Clarksdale were worse, losing 13.7 and 17 percent respectively.
This continues a long slow decline for Delta cities which has been going on for five decades with no signs of abating.
Between 1940 and 1970, Delta cities nearly doubled their populations as northern factories came south for non-union labor. But the search for cheap labor soon moved the jobs to Mexico, then China. Agricultural mechanization and public school integration furthered the declines.
Natchez and Vicksburg, Mississippi River cities with lots of charm and beautiful old downtown buildings, have also declined. Vicksburg lost 9.6 percent from 2010 to 2020. Natchez lost 8.1 percent.
Meridian and Laurel haven’t fare any better, losing 14.8 percent and 7.4 percent respectively.
Mississippi’s population declined only .2 percent during 2010 and 2020 so some cities must be growing to offset the declines.
Oxford, of course, is booming, everybody knows that. It grew a whopping 34.4 percent. Starkville grew 2 percent. College towns do better.
Batesville grew a mere .08 percent. Senatobia grew 2.3 percent. Proximity to a big metro area like Memphis helps.
Hattiesburg grew 6 percent. Gulfport grew 7.6 percent. Proximity to the coast seems to help growth. Smaller coastal towns are growing. Ocean Springs at 5.7 percent growth and Bay St. Louis at .3 percent.
Tupelo grew 9.8 percent. Located in the far northeast of the state, it seems to be an anomaly — an isolated Mississippi small city that is growing substantially.
Then there are the suburbs. Desoto, Madison and Rankin counties all grew at 14.9, 14.6 and 10.9 percent respectively. Jackson, Mississippi’s largest city, lost 11.4 percent of its population.
These trends lend themselves to a few observations: People are attracted to the coast, college towns and big urban areas. They are less attracted to smaller, isolated cities and towns.
I suspect good restaurants are part of the equation. People eat out far more than they used to. Small towns just don’t have a good variety of restaurants. Same is true for tennis courts, golf courses, movie theatres and lots of other things to do.
On the other hand, life in rural areas has upgraded dramatically in many respects. The Internet has allowed people in rural areas to be as linked in as their urban counterparts. Amazon can deliver anything you want to your door in a day or two.
But this has caused collateral damage to small towns. Local shops and merchants have been put out of business by Amazon, Wal-Mart and the like, reducing the number of small town jobs.Concentration of wealth in massive urban areas, is leaving less for the rest of the country, especially those in rural areas.
The drop in offshore oil and gas employment has had a huge effect on employment in small southern Mississippi towns. The twenty-year decline in timber prices has hurt one of the biggest industries in Mississippi’s small towns.
The massive transfer of factory jobs to Mexico and then China over the last twenty years has hurt rural areas. Smaller factories can’t compete with mega factories using cheap overseas labor. That is showing signs of abating.
As for the nation as a whole, the U.S. Census Bureau notes several trends for the decade 2010 to 2020. Foremost, U. S. population growth slowed. Only the 1930s had slower growth. On average, smaller counties lost population and more populous counties grew. Metro areas grew 8.7 percent and micro areas grew by only .08 percent.
Nationwide, 86 percent of Americans live in metro areas bigger than 50,000. That’s up from 84.3 percent twenty years ago. Another 8.3 percent of Americans live in cities and towns less than 50,000. And 5.4 percent live in rural areas. America is still urbanizing.
So what’s happening right now? A brand new Census Bureau report shows the highest growth from 2020 to 2023 was on the outskirts of metropolitan areas or in rural areas. “Many large cities with populations of 50,000 or more saw notable population declines over the course of the pandemic. Although their losses have slowed to pre-pandemic levels, their populations continued to decrease in 2023.” That’s an interesting change.
From 2020 to 2023 towns from 5,000 to 10,000 in population grew .7 percent compared to .5 percent for cities over 50,000. This seems to be a reversal of population trends, favoring the smaller towns.
The Census Reports goes on to state, “Across much of the nation, mid-sized cities and towns with populations of at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000 people saw growth. Cities this size in the Northeast continued to lose population (0.1% average decline).
Mid-sized cities and towns in the South showed relative stability, growing at the same average rate of 1.5% in 2023 as in 2022 and at a faster pace than in any other U.S region.
Similarly, small places in the South with populations of 5,000 but fewer than 10,000, averaged a slightly lower growth rate (1.3%) than mid-sized cities in the same region.
Small towns in the South experienced the largest growth among all small towns in the U.S. with an average increase of 0.6%. Losses slowed in Northeastern and
Midwestern small
cities.”
Wyatt Emmerich is president of Emmerich Newspapers. Reach him at wyatt@northsidesun.com
