Cleveland's population flattens near 385,000 after decades of big losses, new census estimates say

Gus Chan, Plain Dealer file

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland’s population appears to be leveling off heading into the official count next year after a half-century of significant losses at census time every 10 years.

New estimates released Thursday place Cleveland’s population at 383,793 for 2018, down 0.4 percent from 385,428 a year earlier.

The number is just an estimate, as opposed to the more precise official count that will be conducted in April 2020.

But the estimate is another piece of evidence of a stabilizing city, coupled with recovering home sales prices and large new residential housing projects in some areas such as the near West Side.

(Estimates for each Ohio city and village, and America's 100 largest cities are shown in the charts at the bottom of this story.)

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Losses from census to census

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The latest estimate from the Census Bureau says that since census 2010, Cleveland has lost 13,022 residents. In comparison, Cleveland lost:

  • 80,657 from 2000 to 2010.
  • 28,143 from 1990 to 2000.
  • 68,207 from 1980 to 1990.
  • 177,081 from 1970 to 1980.
  • 125,147 from 1960 to 1970.
  • 38,758 from 1950 to 1960.
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Sliding down since 1950

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Cleveland’s population peaked in 1950 at 914,808 as the nation’s seventh largest city before beginning the decline.

When Cleveland had 796,841 residents in 1920, only New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit were larger.

Cleveland in 1990 was surpassed by Columbus as Ohio’s largest city. Columbus now ranks 14th nationally with 892,533 people; Cleveland is 52nd.

But Cleveland remains the most densely populated large city in Ohio, with 4,939 people per square mile.

The reason for the difference in ranking for density is that Columbus is much larger – covering the same amount of land as the combined total for Cleveland, Cincinnati and Akron.

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Ohio's largest cities

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Among Ohio's 15 largest cities, only Columbus and Cincinnati have gained in population since census 2010, according to the estimates for 2018.

Columbus is up an estimated 105,500 since the last census to 892,533. And Cincinnati is up 5,662 to an estimated 302,605.

America's largest city, New York, is up an estimated 223,615 since census 2010 to 8,398,748 last year, the new estimates say. That's more than double the size of second-ranked Los Angeles at 3,990,456.

More details for U.S. and Ohio cities are below.

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Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. Follow coverage of census 2020 at this link.

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America's 100 largest cities

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Ohio city and village populations

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