Population

The Metro East community's population has been dropping since the 1950s. Lansdowne Up wants to reverse that trend by building the first market-rate housing in decades.

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

According to the U.S. Census data’s 2021 American Community Survey, immigrant households in the St. Louis region earned nearly $6 billion in total income, and held over $4 billion in spending power. St. Louis University demographer Ness Sandoval says immigrants are making a small but meaningful contribution to the vibrancy of the area’s economy, but there is more work that needs to be done to attract more immigrants.

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.

A recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that the population in rural areas is on the rise after a decade of decline.

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.

The answer is complicated and depends on how you look at the 2.6% unemployment rate for the overall St. Louis metropolitan area.

A new report from the USDA shows that rural areas are continuing to see growth among people over 65 while the working-age population continues to decline.

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 has long thought of itself as a Black and white city. Now U.S. Census Bureau numbers show the region’s composition changing, with increases in Asian, Latino and multiracial residents.