Population decline is one of the most quietly dramatic forces reshaping American cities today. Streets once packed with commuters thin out, storefronts close, and entire neighborhoods settle into an eerie calm that visitors often mistake for charm. Understanding which cities are shrinking – and why – gives travelers a very different lens through which to explore them.
1. St. Louis, Missouri: The Steepest Fall Among Major U.S. Cities
At its peak in the 1950s, St. Louis had nearly 900,000 people living in the city. Now, the population stands at just under 280,000 – a drop of about 65%. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, St. Louis lost about 21,700 residents between 2020 and 2024. The decline is closely tied to the loss of families with children, as young families are leaving for suburban communities with better parks and schools, and with fewer of those families in the region, conditions worsen further in the city itself.
Census estimates show St. Louis losing 3,077 residents in a single one-year update – the largest numeric decline among cities recently highlighted in national rankings, even though several smaller cities posted steeper percentage decreases in the same period. For visitors, this tells a complicated story. The Gateway Arch and Forest Park remain world-class attractions, but travelers will notice pockets of visible urban vacancy scattered across neighborhoods that once hummed with industry.
2. Detroit, Michigan: Blight, Grit, and a Tourism Comeback
Detroit reached its peak in the 1950s with a population of 1.8 million, but by the mid-2000s the population had dropped by more than 60%. According to the urban regeneration nonprofit Detroit Future City, there are more than 100,000 vacant lots that have become symbols of urban blight. In Detroit, the population decreased 7.8% since 2017, leaving 620,410 residents as of 2022. According to Reuters, China built more than 27 million vehicles in 2024, while the U.S. only assembled about 14 million – a global manufacturing shift that has devastated the Motor City’s economic base.
Against all odds, Detroit has become a tourist destination. The New York Times named it one of its “52 places to go in 2025,” ranking it 39th on the list. The historic Book Tower reopened in 2023 after a nearly $400 million renovation, and the reopening of Michigan Central Station, the Shinola Hotel, and General Motors moving into downtown’s new Hudson’s development are all signs that Detroit is having a moment. Visitors arriving today will find a city that wears its scars openly, which for many travelers makes it feel more honest – and more interesting – than cities that have polished everything smooth.
3. San Francisco, California: Smaller Population, Still a Major Draw
Since 2019, San Francisco’s population has dropped by 8.29% – the sharpest drop of any city in a FinanceBuzz analysis of 117 major U.S. cities. Home values have risen at the slowest rate of any city in the country, nearly 73% slower than the national average, making San Francisco the country’s fastest-declining city overall. San Francisco has been one of the nation’s biggest population losers since the start of the pandemic. The city gained roughly 1,200 people by July 2023 compared to a year earlier, but that still left it 7% smaller than its peak in 2019.
San Francisco is expected to welcome 23.33 million visitors in 2025, compared to 23.06 million in 2024, with visitor spending projected to reach $9.41 billion. In 2024, total visitor-related spending contributed $9.26 billion into the San Francisco economy and supported nearly 62,000 jobs. So while residents have been leaving, tourists keep arriving – drawn to the Golden Gate, world-class dining, and a cultural scene that refuses to shrink along with the residential count.
4. New York City, New York: Losing Residents, Still the World’s Stage
Population declines continued in New York City, but losses were lower than in previous years. New York City lost 78,000 residents in the most recently reported year. City officials challenged the numbers, saying the Census Bureau had undercounted asylum seekers and people in homeless shelters – yet the city’s total population loss since the April 2020 census count is nearly 550,000. The biggest population losses are expected to continue taking place in the Northeast and Midwest as the population moves to the South and West.
The city recorded 64.7 million visitors in 2025, a marginal 0.3% increase compared with 2024, missing the city’s long-touted goal of attracting 67 million tourists and failing to eclipse the all-time record of 66.6 million visitors set in 2019. NYC Tourism + Conventions pointed to “tariffs and negative rhetoric” surrounding travel to the United States as major contributors to a nearly 5% decline in overseas visitors year over year, with international arrivals slipping from 12.9 million in 2024 to 12.3 million in 2025. The experience for visitors in a slightly emptier New York is a curious one – hotel prices remain steep, but the subway feels a little less crushing at rush hour than it did five years ago.
5. Chicago, Illinois: A Declining Base With a Tourism Rebound
Population declines continued in Chicago, though losses were lower than in previous years. The biggest population losses are expected in the Northeast and Midwest, and the population in Illinois cities is also projected to decline further in the coming decades. Still, Chicago’s visitor economy tells a more encouraging story. The number of visitors to Chicago rose 6.5% to 55.3 million in 2024 compared to 2023, and international visitors to Chicago topped 2 million for the first time since 2019.
Chicago brought in a record total of $490 million in hotel tax revenue and sold 11.6 million hotel rooms in 2024. The Chicago metro saw about a 2.3% year-over-year decline in international air traffic in June 2025. Chicago remains a primary entry point for travelers from Germany, the United Kingdom, and other European markets, with softer demand partly influenced by political tension and higher U.S. travel costs. For the visitor on the ground, Chicago remains one of America’s great cities – deep-dish pizza, world-class architecture, and a lakefront that genuinely earns its reputation.
6. New Orleans, Jackson, and Buffalo: Three Cities, One Broader Story
New Orleans has the highest rate of vacant houses of any city in a FinanceBuzz analysis, with roughly 22.9% of homes in the city unoccupied. The city has seen its population decline by 5% over a recent three-year period while also experiencing markedly low rates of new home construction and new business openings. Jackson, Mississippi, saw a population decline of approximately 12.7% from 2017 to 2022, with its most recent count housing 146,019 residents. Jackson registered one of the heaviest setbacks among recently tracked cities, with Census estimates showing a drop from 143,485 residents in 2023 to 141,449 in 2024 – a one-year decline of over 2,000 residents, or 1.4%.
Buffalo, New York, rounds out this trio with a well-documented industrial past giving way to a surprising cultural rebound. Like other industrial cities in America, Buffalo suffered from the shuttering and outsourcing of steel and manufacturing, lost its top spot in transportation when the St. Lawrence Seaway provided an alternative to the Erie Canal, and its abandoned warehouses and factories became dilapidated landmarks of America’s de-industrialized Rust Belt. However, Zillow named Buffalo as America’s hottest property market in 2025, and some of the old industrial buildings have now been repurposed as unique attractions, including a set of striking waterfront silos that is now the city’s hippest new neighborhood. Meanwhile, over 19 million visitors traveled to New Orleans in 2024, and the city was ranked number two in the United States in the Travel + Leisure “World’s Best Awards 2025,” recognized for its outstanding culture, food, and hospitality. Population loss and visitor appeal, it turns out, are not the same thing at all – and for curious travelers, a shrinking city is often a surprisingly rewarding place to explore.