ST. LOUIS — It's a trend impacting major cities across the country and St. Louis is no exception. The latest U.S. Census numbers show more people are moving out of the city limits. A St. Louis group is working to change that.
You likely remember the big push back in 2020 to fill out the Census. Now those numbers are back and the results find local advocates fighting even harder to breathe new life into St. Louis.
It's a little of what makes our city unique. The Cardinals. The Blues. Don't forget the history.
"Being the first for a lot of things like Chuck Berry inventing rock and roll basically,” said Michael White.
Then there's the food.
"Apparently the toasted ravioli is a thing here,” Amelia Gerstung said.
Don’t forget tourism. It's why Gerstung is here.
"I'm going to go see the Arch. It's one of the main reasons I came,” she said.
With a city with so much to offer, why are people moving out of it? New documents from the U.S. Census Bureau show that in 2020, more than 300,000 people lived in the city. The estimate for 2021 comes in at 293,000, a population drop of 7,000 people. This as counties like St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin all saw their populations go up.
"Big trends going across the country where people were leaving big metros. New York City lost in one year, a population equal to the entire city of St. Louis. We're not immune to that,” said Jason Hall with Greater St. Louis Inc.
His group is working to attract big business since he said jobs lead to growth.
"We have a team of professionals that are out there everyday working to bring those leads here and in providing the support to land those jobs in St. Louis versus other metros,” he said.
It’s all in hopes of getting and keeping people in the city.
"We've got tremendous work to do in North City St. Louis, in North County where we just landed a huge manufacturing plant, bringing more family support and wages. We've got to address those and you're seeing action there,” Hall said.
His group is behind the STL 2030 Jobs Plan where city and county leaders are collaborating to put more people to work over the next 8 years.
You can read more about that plan here.