While Springfield gained 989 residents, Detroit lost 25% of its population over the last decade, falling to its lowest point since 1910.
SPRINGFIELD - The city of Springfield gained 989 residents from 2000 to 2010, according to U.S. census figures released last week.
It was enough to keep the city’s population over the 150,000-person threshold for federal aid to cities and it fit in with a general pattern of slow growth, but growth just the same, in Hampden and Hampshire counties.
The four western counties of Massachusetts grew by 1.1 percent since 2000. That’s compared with a 3.1 percent rate of growth for the state as a whole.
The U.S. Constitution mandates a census every 10 years for the purpose of apportioning members of the U.S. House of Representatives. But the federal government also uses census data to divvy up more than $300 billion in spending each year on things like roads, bridges, water and sewer projects, education, health and health care.
The state also uses census statistics, to draw up state legislative districts.
Private industry uses the numbers to make decisions about locating customer bases and available work forces.
The city’s gain in population, which works out to just 0.64 percent growth over 10 years to a new population of 153,060, is not a cause to get too excited, said Robert A. Nakosteen, a professor of economics and statistics at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. “As a statistician, I would call that within the margin of error,” he said. “But remember the alternative is to be Detroit.”
The Motor City has become the poster child for emptying neighborhoods. The same once-every-ten-year census that showed most of Massachusetts gaining population showed that Detroit lost 25 percent of its population over the last decade, falling to 713,777, or its lowest point since 1910.
Other midwestern cities like Cleveland are also losing population, Nakosteen said. By comparison, Springfield is doing well.
“Depending on who the new people are, it gives Springfield a bigger tax base, it gives them a bigger labor force,” Nakosteen said. “This does not paper over the fact that Springfield has real challenges. It’s lost employment base. It’s lost business.”
New city-by-city unemployment rates will not be out until next week. But in January, Springfield as a city had an unemployment rate of 14.4 percent. As a region, Springfield and its surrounding communities had an unemployment rate of 10.3 percent, unadjusted for seasonal changes. This is compared with a statewide average of 9 percent unemployment when not adjusted for seasonal changes. When adjusted, it’s 8.2 percent.
The national unemployment rate was 8.9 percent in February and 9 percent in January; both numbers are adjusted for seasonal fluctuations in the economy.
Timothy W. Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, said census numbers also predict the labor market of the future. The census told of growing minority populations, especially of Hispanics and Latinos, but also of blacks and Asians, in city centers. Brennan said he knows from other demographic studies that those minority populations tend to be younger and have larger families as well. “The implication is that we have to make sure those young people get a superior K through 12 education then either a college degree or technical training,” he said. “Because that is our future work force. That is who we need to have ready to take jobs when baby boomers retire. But if they are casualties, it is not good for them and it is not good for the region.”
On the whole, a diverse population is an asset because it’s more likely to be young and energetic.
“It makes us look more like the world,” Brennan said. “I wouldn’t want to be the last place that gets diverse.”
He said population patterns lay out other tasks for the region’s business leaders.
“How do we get jobs out of the High Performance computing center in Holyoke,” Brennan asked. “What does it mean if we can get high-speed Internet out into the hill towns?”
City living might be getting more popular as baby boomers look to downsize to smaller living quarters and everyone becomes wary of spending money on their commutes.
“Once gas hits $3.50 a gallon, a lot of people start changing their decision-making,” Brennan said.
He is troubled that Hampden and Hampshire counties seemed to be in the center of an arc of dipping populations. Both Franklin and Berkshire counties lost population.
Michael E. Tucker, president Greenfield Co-operative Bank, said Franklin County was on the verge of growing into a bedroom community for pricey Hampshire County, but then the recession hit and knocked down housing prices.
“You would always like to see some growth,” Tucker said. “But we’ve lost jobs. It’s nice to see places like Yankee Candle doing well. But how many people can work in tourism?”