Census Shows Populations Moving Outward

The city of Beachwood lost 2 percent of its population since 2000, but that's right in line with the rest of the region, and a smaller loss than many of Cleveland's inner suburbs.

Among six cities within 10 miles of Cleveland we surveyed, only one city's population grew, and by only 0.3 percent. And within 20 miles, eight of 13 city populations – including Beachwood's – dropped. Cities between 21 and 40 miles fared much better, with only two of the 10 we surveyed dropping in population.

Robert L. Fischer, Ph.D. and co-director of Case Western Reserve University's Center on Urban Poverty & Community Development, said that there is little doubt that foreclosures are a piece of the drop. Cuyahoga County has seen 14,000 foreclosures per year since 2006, and half of those have occurred in the city of Cleveland.

"The other matter that is well documented is that while Cleveland population has declined markedly (-17 percent) the population in Cuyahoga County has not dropped as much (-8.2 percent) and the region has remained relatively flat (-2 percent)," he wrote in an e-mail.

"Partly this reflects the migration of families out of the urban center and the sprawl of the metropolitan area, that has been taking place since the 1950s. Certainly the shifts in the regional economy have also fueled these patterns as well," he added.

But Cleveland is not alone in this pattern: Fischer added that other major cities including Cincinnati, Toledo and Akron have seen similar population patterns. 

There are outliers: Avon, for example, which grew by 85 percent in the past 10 years, saw the largest growth by a wide margin, and East Cleveland's drop in population is far from the next-largest drop – Cleveland proper.

Beachwood Mayor Merle Gorden was not overly concerned about the drop, he said. 

"With everything that’s happening in the world, and we're off 2 percent ... I’d rather not be off any but people are still very transient," he said. "They're moving from one place to another. Of course, I would like to see it 2 percent the other way." 

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Editor's Note: The original version of this story listed Avon Lake's population increase as 2.5 percent.