Methodology
To identify the 50 fastest shrinking towns in America, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed population data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population and Housing Unit Estimates Program. Places are ranked by the percent population change from July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2020.
For the purposes of this story, towns are defined by their population – and only incorporated places with populations between 1,000 and 25,000 on July 1, 2010 were considered.
We also considered median household income, the share of households earning over $200,000 annually, and unemployment rate. Each of these measures is a five year estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 American Community Survey.
