MUNCIE — A half-century of losing population has been hard on Muncie but at least in the last decade it hasn't been alone.
Many other places beyond Muncie lost population in the 2020 census compared with 2010, including traditionally celebrated places like Honolulu, San Jose, Calif. and San Francisco. And there were smaller places that lost people within states that showed huge growth, such as Texas, where Schleicher County lost nearly 30% of its population while the Lone Star State grew by nearly 16%.
Most counties in Indiana lost population and most counties in the United States also lost population. Still, reaction to a shrinking population is often treated as a civic disgrace.
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In the United States, local leaders always aim at growth, said Peter Lombardi, a project manager with czb, an urban planning consulting firm based in Virginia. Growth is the object of community plans, the primary metric of success and a cause that brings people together.
"Often, when population falls, there is a feeling of failure," said Lombardi, who is helping create the Muncie-Delaware County comprehensive plan being completed this year. "When that growth doesn't happen, you feel like you've failed."