New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and other large cities lost the most residents during the pandemic city exodus last year as about 75 per cent of U. S. counties experienced a loss in population, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The agency revealed on Thursday that American's fled metropolitan areas between April 2020 to July 2021 in favor of the South West, with Dallas, Houston, Austin and Phoenix among those to see the largest growth last year.
The Census Bureau said: 'In 2021, fewer births, an aging population and increased mortality - intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic - contributed to a rise in natural [population] decrease' across the country,' but particular hitting big cities the hardest.'
That saw 75 per cent of all US counties record falling populations in 2021. The figure the year before was 55.5 per cent, and in 2019 it sat at 45.5 per cent. Much of the sharp increase has been blamed on COVID tearing through older populations most vulnerable to the illness, with more than 975,000 Americans confirmed to have died of it.
Last year's trend generally saw residents of more liberal 'blue' cities and states move to conservative 'red' states, and could lead to traditionally Republican areas turning Democrat thanks to the influx of newcomers.
Those blue cities have also been in the headlines for the wrong reasons in recent years, thanks to soaring levels of violent crime blamed on progressive district attorneys and slashing of police budgets.
Anthony Giusti, of San Francisco, said he left California behind for Houston because the high cost of living in the Silicon Valley was something he could never afford even with two jobs.
'In Houston, I can be a blue-collar entrepreneur,' Giusti, who started the West Houston Painting Company, told the Los Angeles Times. 'Texas has a thing about it, a romantic thing, with cowboys, and there's the idea here of the Lone Star State.'
When it comes to a drop in population, New York City was hit the hardest with four of its counties - also known as boroughs - estimated to have lost a total 328,000 residents, dropping from 8,308,443 in April 2020 to about 7,980,443 by July 2021.
Los Angeles County saw the second largest drop in population which went down from 10,014,009 to 9,829,544, a decrease of about 176,000. The City of Los Angeles also saw a sharp drop, losing 91,000 of its 3.9 million residents.
Illinois' Cook County, which encompasses Chicago, saw its population fall from 5,275,541 to 5,173,146, a drop of about 102,395. Chicago itself waved farewell to about 91,000 of its 2.71 million residents.
San Francisco witnesses a decline of about 55,000 residents, with San Francisco County reporting its population falling fro... (Read more)
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