A scene from Main Street in Greenville, Kentucky. The county, made famous in the John Prine song, "Paradise," is dealing with the decline of the coal industry. Oct. 1, 2020 Af5i2658
© Pat McDonogh / Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC
(New York, NY) – According to new research, nearly 15,000 US cities will be ghost towns by the end of the century. Over the next 80 years, populations are expected to decline by between 12% and 23% in these cities. And that’s per a study conducted by the University of Illinois Chicago.
The study’s researchers cite “unprecedented challenges” facing these cities, including the loss of basic services as a result of declining populations, and diminished local tax revenue. Mass transit, electricity service, internet access, and even clean water could be hard to come by. The report says “simultaneously, increasing population trends in resource-intensive suburban and periurban cities will probably take away access to much needed resources in depopulating areas, further exacerbating their challenges.”
“Sun Belt migration” is also discussed within the study — that’s when people move away from colder, northern states with high taxes to warmer, less regulated states in the US south. Researchers say Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis are experiencing “moderate to slow” decline in population. In those areas, people are flocking to surrounding suburban neighborhoods. The same is true in Columbus, Georgia.; Birmingham, Alabama; and Memphis, Tennessee.
The University of Chicago study does suggest two areas won’t experience any population decline by 2100: Hawaii and the District of Columbia.
