The biggest share of population-losing cities are in California
June 2, 2025
- Around 16% of larger U.S. cities suffered drops in their populations over five years, with the highest share in California and other liberal states, a ConsumerAffairs analysis finds.
- New York,San Francisco, and Philadelphiahad the biggest population declines.
- Still, cities of all sizes grew grew on average over one year.
Some U.S. cities, particularly in liberal areasof the country,have beenlosing people even after populations grew in most urban centers.
Around 16% of U.S. cities with 100,000 or more people lost population over five years in 2024 from2020, according to a ConsumerAffairs analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data.
California accounted for around 38% of the cities that lost people, underscoring the so-called California exodus of peoplefleeing the Golden State formore affordable places to live.
After California, Texas accounted for 6% of the cities losing population, followed by Colorado (4%), Illinois (4%) andNew York (4%) in the rest of the top five states with the most cities with lower populations.
ConsumerAffairs’analysis excluded boroughs, counties and metro areas from the Census data.
By percentage change, Jackson,Miss.had the biggest drop in population among the cities, with a nearly 8% decline over five years, followed by St. Louis,(-7%), Shreveport, La. (-5%), San Francisco,(-5%) and New Orleans,(5%) in the rest of the top five.
By population, New York,had the biggest decline, losing 262,234people over five years, followed by San Francisco,(-47,300), Philadelphia,(-26,872), Chicago,(-23,888) and New Orleans,(-20,673)in the rest of the top five.
Liberal cities in focus
Population declines among Democratic-leaning cities showhow people are voting with their feet, according to Howard Husock, senior fellow with the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute.
“An even slightly-closer look at these cities quality of life and affordability factors that are the function of the effectiveness of their local governments offers explanations for the trend,” Husock said in an op-ed.
For instance, Husock said housing costs in New York are nearly 22% higher than the national average, citing RentCafe data, despite the city having more price-regulated and public housing than any other.
“Its hard to avoid the conclusion that ineffective governance has played a role; crime and homelessness, high tax levels and poor-performing public schools are not magnets to draw back former residents or draw in new ones,” Husock said.
But in the shorter term, the Census said populations ofcities of all sizes grew on average in 2024 from 2023, particularly in Southern and Western cities,with Princeton, Texas topping the list with an around 31% increase.
Many population growth rates reversed or saw major changes between 2023 and 2024, said Crystal Delb, a statistician in the Census Bureaus Population Division.
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