Amid record-breaking outflow from urban areas, Worcester County population in 2021 remained stable
Photo | TMS Aerial
Worcester County's population growth remained stable with 0% change in 2021, as many urban areas saw population loss.
The U.S. metropolitan areas across the country had substantial population loss in 2021, with the new data from the U.S. Census Bureau confirming the anecdotal evidence of people moving to suburban and rural areas during the coronavirus pandemic. Despite this downward trend in cities, Worcester County’s population remained stable with zero growth or loss.
In Worcester County, population estimates remained basically unchanged, from 862,111 in April 2020 to 862,029 in July 2021. Data specific to cities is not yet available.
Worcester’s figures contrasted with neighboring metropolitan counties. Suffolk County, which is home to Boston, saw a population drop of 3.3% in 2021, losing about 26,691 people over the course of the year.
New York County had a 6.9% decrease in population, shrinking by about 117,375.
Other metro areas in New England also shrank in population, though not as strikingly as some of the larger cities. Providence County in Rhode Island dropped 0.4% and Hartford County in Connecticut fell 0.3%.
As a whole, Massachusetts had a 0.6% population decrease in 2021, losing nearly 45,200 people.
Historically, Worcester has fallen behind similarly sized metro areas in population growth, but 2020 Census data showed it had shot ahead in the latter half of the decade. Worcester was the fastest-growing major city in New England with more than 14% population growth from 2010 to 2020. In the same timeframe, Worcester County grew nearly 8%, slightly less than both Middlesex and Norfolk counties.
A New York Times report on the new Census data showed the majority of outflow from large cities in the last year was caused by movement of people out of urban areas. There was also a spike in deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a drop in births and immigration.
Last year was also the slowest year of growth on record for the U.S. as a whole, with an overall population growth of 0.1%, according to the Census Bureau.
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