The seven-county Pittsburgh metropolitan area was home to 16,000 fewer residents in 2022 than in 2021, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows. The 0.7% decline put the region’s population at 2.4 million people and extends a losing streak whose origins date back to the steel industry’s collapse.
“Pittsburgh is a region that suffered a lot of population loss 40 years ago. That may seem like a long time ago, but really the impacts of that continue to this day.” said Chris Briem, an economist at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research.
Today, Pittsburgh’s population ranks among the oldest in the country, causing the number of deaths in the region to exceed the number of births. Such “natural population change” shrunk the population in the Pittsburgh metro area by more than 9,200 residents between July 2021 and July 2022, according to Briem’s analysis of the new census data. The metro area includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
“This phenomenon of natural population decline is probably worse here than any of the other large metropolitan areas in the country,” Briem said. “There are pockets of places that have similar declines, but really amongst large metropolitan regions, it's really us and … retirement communities.”
He found that Pittsburgh also lost another 9,400 residents due to migration within the U.S. in 2022. While that pattern likely reflects the availability of jobs outside Pittsburgh, Briem noted that retirees often relocate too, with many seeking warmer climates.
The Pittsburgh area gained only about 3,300 new residents through international migration last year, according to the census data. Within the region, meanwhile, Butler and Washington counties experienced modest growth, likely facilitated by homebuilding within commuting distance of the city of Pittsburgh.
Following the 2020 decennial census, local leaders celebrated a 0.6% increase in the total metro area population over the preceding decade. But on Thursday, Briem said much of that growth occurred early in the period between 2010 and 2020, likely because Pittsburgh fared better than other U.S. cities during the Great Recession and investment in the region’s natural gas-drilling industry had peaked.
More recent population losses indicate that Pittsburgh has reverted to historical demographic patterns. Although regional economic development strategies usually seek to expand the clientele and workforces of local businesses by attracting more people to a given geographical area, Briem said that policymakers in Pittsburgh should consider shifting their focus.
“I think they should be planning for a future that reflects the population trends that are most likely, which are relatively flat population growth into the future,” he said. ”You can build a prosperous, high-quality-of-life region, but it doesn't necessarily need to come from population growth.”
He noted that, between its high-tech enterprises and research universities, Pittsburgh serves a global customer base by exporting technological innovations, educating an international workforce and achieving medical breakthroughs.
