U.S. Census Bureau estimates another population dip in St. Louis region

This article was first published by St. Louis Public Radio, a BND content partner.

The St. Louis region continues a long trend of shedding population, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday.

The 14-county region, which includes the metro-east, had an estimated population of 2,801,319 in 2022 — an 11,158-person decrease from the year before. The change represents just a 0.4% drop.

The report covers the period from July 2021 to July 2022.

Much of the decrease comes from the City of St. Louis, which lost an estimated 6,984 people, a 2.38% dip. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 286,578 people live there.

“I’m not surprised by the overall conclusion that the region has lost residents. I’m surprised at the magnitude of the loss. I was not expecting it to be that significant,” said Nes Sandoval, an demographer at St. Louis University. “The fact that the drop is 11,000 is a bit of a shock to me,” added Sandoval, who said he expected less than half as large of an estimated decrease.

A key detail is that the region saw an estimated 2,714 fewer births than deaths.