PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania lost about 40,000 people from July 2021 to July 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state had the fourth-biggest population decline in America during that time.
But the commonwealth still ranks fifth in the highest number of residents who call it home.
The census attributes declines seen in the Northeast and Midwest regions.
David Wilk, the director of the real estate program at Temple University Fox School of Business, said many factors could have led to the decline. He cites a pattern of how people are moving around the country, and even around the state.
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“Good locations and good places in Pennsylvania have done well,” said Wilk.
Overall, he points to some of the areas where the census reported growth, like Texas, Florida, and North Carolina which have lower taxes, different weather patterns, and a lower cost of living.
“The biggest challenge I think people are having is [how] wages have not gone up in sync with inflation,” he added. “When you look at affordability, housing affordability is a huge problem in our country overall.”
Wilk says it’s an opportunity for areas who saw the decline to evaluate why people decided to leave.
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Maria Quattrone, who owns RE/MAX @ Home on South Street, said she’s seen a lot of people leave Philadelphia for all sorts of reasons, including an increase in gun violence, relocation for jobs, and work-from-home opportunities, to name a few.
“We haven't experienced so many people wanting to leave prior to the pandemic,” said Quattrone.
She adds the pandemic revealed people wanted to get closer to loved ones, to have more space, or had a change of finances.
“The leadership, the crime, all of those things had people very upset about what's going on. A lot of people, especially for political reasons, also chose to move outside Pennsylvania and to states like Florida that more align with their ideals and beliefs.”
Quattrone said that there will always be population movement, which means home sales will remain constant.
Locally, the Philadelphia metro area had a population drop of more than 16,000 people between July 2020 and July 2021, which includes birth and death numbers. The city saw a drop of 27,000 people in that time frame.
Overall, the national population rose by more than 1.25 million to 333,287,557 people.
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