Census Updates For Cities: Don't Believe The Hype

Writing in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bruce Katz and Alan Berube argue that recent Census Bureau estimates showing broad population declines in cities across the country should be greeted with healthy skepticism, not jeremiads. During the 1990s, they note, immigration fueled population increases in many cities, contradicting often-bleak intercensal numbers. At any rate, household change and income growth, the authors maintain, may be better indicators of metropolitan health than population fluctuations. In the future, the American Community Survey, designed by the Census Bureau to replace decennial counts, should provide a better gauge of city population dynamics, provided the bureau has the necessary resources to implement it correctly, including up-to-date master address lists for the entire nation to ensure sample accuracy.