Without fail the American population has steadily grown every year since the end of the Second World War. There were certain truths that came with being an American that included prosperity and the ability to improve upon the economic success of the previous generation. While the economic success has been fairly evenly spread throughout the country some areas are now suffering from population loss due to migrations. Old centers of industry and population are being transformed into ghost towns due to severe economic hardship. Significant population drops is a new phenomena in the United States.
In some cases it is due to a natural disaster. New Orleans lost about one-fourth of its population after Hurricane Katrina. Other cities are suffering from an exodus due to economics. The United States was once the most powerful manufacturing country in the world. American staples including coal, steel and automobile manufacturing have increasingly been sent overseas in an attempt to seek out inexpensive labor. America’s transformation from an industrial power to an economy based primarily on services. Has create voids in once major population centers. The loss of population compounds economic problems in these already suffering cities. When unemployed people most of the loss of residents causes social services to slip. Property taxes and other means of raising revenue require a healthy and growing population.
As population moves on distressed cities see home values plummet and the tax base erodes so much that basic services including police and fire departments can not longer be guaranteed. Some cities cannot continue to manage huge neighborhoods that have become nearly deserted after residents abandoned their homes. Home vacancies are some of the best indicator of how much a city’™s population has fallen. While some towns might be able to recover from the population loss some once great American cities appear to be past the point of no return. For home owners in these markets their most valuable possession has become all but worthless.
