Apr 7, 2017 3 min read

Consider the following: Not only was Pittsburgh one of the 10-largest cities in the United States a century ago, it was joined by the likes of Buffalo, N.Y., Baltimore and Cleveland.

The days when these broad-shouldered metropolitan goliaths were America’s population leaders were winding down in the 1970s and 1980s, as manufacturing declined and the Sun Belt began its explosive growth. Places like Phoenix, San Antonio, Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and Houston, Texas, which were stifling, heat-soaked crossroads 100 years ago, are now where growth is happening, where young people are flocking, where the action is.

The exodus of people out of the Pittsburgh region is no longer the torrent it was when the mills and the glass plants were shuttering, but recent population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Pennsylvania State Data Center don’t paint a picture of robust population growth. Overall, the Pittsburgh region lost population since the 2010 census count, even though the official number of departures – a little more than 3,000 – is relatively small in the grand scheme of things.

We can take some comfort in the fact that we are not alone. A full 44 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties lost population since 2010, with the exceptions mostly centered in the southern and eastern portions of the commonwealth. Cameron County, nestled in the north-central part of the state, lost 8 percent of its population, while Cambria County, which includes the Johnstown metropolitan area, lost 6.2 percent.

Indeed, our neighbors New York and West Virginia are in the same boat. More to the point, the United States as a whole is seeing the slowest population growth since the Great Depression – baby boomers are starting to die off, and younger generations are not having children at the same pace as their elders.

What to do? It’s a conundrum without an easy, silver-bullet solution. There are some quarters, however, where work can be done and, possibly, progress can be made.

First, we should think in regional terms. The checkerboard of municipalities that have been created across Pennsylvania can lead to parochial thinking and narrow decision making. Thinking in regional terms, and encouraging cooperation between municipalities, could help spur growth. We stand or fall together, after all.

The region also needs to bring its infrastructure up to date. The Southern Beltway, which will extend from Pittsburgh International Airport to Southpointe, should provide a boost to the already-growing northern tier of Washington County and Pittsburgh’s South Hills.

We need to improve educational opportunities so, when businesses consider the area, they can count on a qualified, skilled workforce.

We also need to be welcoming to people from other countries who would like to come to this region. Immigrants from Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Syria and many other points on the globe flocked here in the 1800s and 1900s. Slamming the door shut on people who wish to bring their talents and energy here is a surefire path to stagnation.

Reversing population losses is not something that will happen immediately. As Rich Fitzgerald, the Allegheny County executive, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “You’ve got to remember there was a 30-year period of out-migration, and you don’t turn that ship around in a quick period of time.”