Allegheny County Population Plummeted In '22, Census Bureau Says

PITTSBURGH, PA — Allegheny County suffered one of the nation's steepest population declines in the last fiscal year, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Thursday.

Allegheny County’s population dropped by 12,192 people between July 2021 and July 2022, according to the census bureau. Its estimated population last July 1 was 1,233,253.

The decrease was the 10th largest in the country. Los Angeles County suffered the worst decline, losing more than 90,000 residents, followed by Cook County, IL; Queens, Kings and Bronx counties in NY; Philadelphia County; Wayne County in MI; and Santa Clara and Alameda counties in CA.

“The migration and growth patterns for counties edged closer to pre-pandemic levels this year,” Dr. Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for estimates and projections in the census bureau’s
population division said in a statement.

“Some urban counties, such as Dallas and San Francisco, saw domestic outmigration at a slower pace between 2021 and 2022, compared to the prior year. Meanwhile, many counties with large
universities saw their populations fully rebound this year as students returned."

Of the 10 counties that experienced the most population growth, all but two were in Texas and Florida. The county with the largest increase was Maricopa in AZ; followed by Harris, Collin and Denton, all in TX; Polk and Lee in FL; Fort Bend in TX; Hillsborough in FL and Baxter and Montgomery, both in TX.

More than 52.5 percent of the nation's counties grew in 2021-22, down from 55.7 percent of counties in 2020-21. More than 47.1 percent declined, and 0.3 saw no population change.