Elk Grove is Hot; Norfolk is Not
I’ve never been to Elk Grove, California (Zindex $455,330) — let alone heard of it — so my curiosity was piqued to read it is the fastest-growing American city, growing 11.6 percent since last year.
If you read between the lines, a key reason it landed at the top of the list is because the city boundaries were expanded. Other possible reasons are that Apple Computer has a complex there, and that it’s only 15 miles south of Sacramento — ideal ingredients for expansion and sprawl. Another interesting factoid is that "Children in Elk Grove’s schools speak about 80 languages, including Hmong, Spanish, Hindi, Vietnamese and Hungarian…" according to Elk Grove’s Chamber of Commerce president, who was quoted in this Bloomberg article. By the way, that looks like mighty fertile land down there in Elk Grove (see screenshot).
Conversely, Norfolk, Virginia lost 2.27 percent of its population, followed by St. Louis and Cincinnati. The articles never speculated why these cities realized decline, but you have to wonder about the availability of jobs in these places. Even upstate New York was bracing for the news from the U.S. Census Bureau; they have been seeing an increasing rate of population decline.
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