Pennsylvania’s Once-Great Cities

If you missed it, ReasonTV put out a great video on the city of Harrisburg’s fiscal disaster, asking whether Harrisburg’s nightmare is America’s Future.

Much of what happened in Harrisburg—from owning a baseball team to spending millions on artifacts for a Wild West museum that never happened to the boondoggle of an incinerator—are unique to the capital city. But other cities, like Scranton and Johnstown, may not be far behind.

One trend most commonwealth cities face is declining population.  Responding to high taxes, failing schools, growing debt and pension costs, “yellow pages” government and high crime, residents are fleeing cities.

With the exception of Allentown, Pennsylvania’s major cities have all lost population from their peak.  Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Altoona, Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre have all lost more than 40 percent of their population.  Johnstown has only one-third its population from 1920!

% Change from Peak 2010 Population Peak Year Peak Population 2000 Population 1990 Population
Allentown 0% 118,032 2010 118,032 106,595 105,090
Altoona -44% 46,320 1930 82,054 49,429 51,881
Easton -25% 26,800 1950 35,632 26,220 26,276
Erie -26% 101,786 1960 138,440 103,659 108,718
Harrisburg -45% 49,528 1950 89,544 48,879 52,376
Johnstown -69% 20,978 1920 67,327 23,818 28,134
Lancaster -7% 59,322 1950 63,774 56,768 55,551
Philadelphia -26% 1,526,006 1950 2,071,605 1,513,800 1,585,577
Pittsburgh -55% 305,704 1950 676,806 333,703 369,879
Reading -21% 88,082 1930 111,171 81,309 78,380
Scranton -47% 76,089 1930 143,433 75,851 81,805
Wilkes-Barre -52% 41,498 1930 86,626 42,984 47,523
Williamsport -36% 29,381 1930 45,729 30,629 31,933
York -27% 43,718 1950 59,953 41,261 42,192
Source: http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab23.txt