Population drain from WNY is speeding up

Buffalo Niagara loss soars in last 5 years

By JAY REY
News Staff Reporter
6/21/2006
Buffalo Niagara lost more people in the past five years than it did during the entire 1990s, according to Census Bureau estimates scheduled to be released today.

Only halfway into this decade, the population in Erie and Niagara counties already has dropped by 22,400 people.

The estimated losses are significant, considering the region’s population decreased by just over 19,000 people from 1990 to 2000.

So not only does the region’s population continue to fall, but the decline appears to be speeding up.

Buffalo took the largest hit - down nearly 13,000 people during the past five years, dropping the city’s population to an estimated 279,745.

This is a problem in cities throughout upstate New York.

Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse all saw population decreases of about 4 percent or more between the 2000 census and July of last year, when the latest estimates were calculated.

Brown, who contracts with the state to review census estimates, summed up the problem simply: “It’s jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said.

Erie County’s population dropped the past five years by 19,500, or 2.1 percent, to 930,700, estimates show. During the same period, Niagara County’s population decreased by 2,800 people, or 1.3 percent, to 217,000.

Taxes, regulations, compensation, medicaid, taxes, utility costs, you name it and we have it. The highest taxes in the country, over $5000 per person debt load, tax burden 83% higher than National average, lowest in business friendly states, and the most dysfunctional legislature (Erie County and Albany) in the country. Who controls the government? Unions and special interests like trial lawyers.

Can I keep my kids here? I hope so.