Ness Sandoval

The St. Louis metropolitan area is showing troubling signs when it comes to population trends.

According to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the St. Louis region lost more than 3,200 residents in the year ending July 1, 2023. The population decline caused the region to drop from the 21st-largest U.S. metro area to the 23rd, now behind Charlotte and Orlando.

The region bucks the norm in most other major metropolitan areas: people from India make up the largest share of foreign-born people in the St. Louis region over people from Mexico.

Public school enrollment is relatively flat this year, compared to last year. But it is still down from recent years, and experts say more decline is likely coming.

A poll from the Middle West Review asked respondents from 22 states whether they consider themselves Midwesterners. The geographic sample included states not usually listed as part of the region.

New census data shows the St. Louis metropolitan region lost around 19,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022. St. Louis and St. Louis County led the declines while suburban and exurban counties, like St. Charles, Lincoln and Jefferson, posted gains as they have in the past.

An annual report by the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the St. Louis metropolitan region saw a population drop of about half of one percent last year. Much of the estimated decrease came from the City of St. Louis.

The 14-county region hovered around 2.8 million people only shedding about 10,000 between 2020 and 2021, but the changes weren’t evenly distributed.

St. Louis and St. Louis County saw the largest population decreases while St. Charles, Jefferson and Lincoln counties had the largest gains.

The U.S. Census Bureau stopped collecting survey responses a month ago, after a year filled with multiple disruptions to the count, including the coronavirus pandemic and federal lawsuits. In the coming months, the bureau will begin to release data from the national headcount, the implications of which are sweeping.