Demographia

USA Metropolitan Area & Core Cities
Population Trends: 1930-1940

 
OBSERVATIONS: OVERALL
 Suburbanization was well underway before World War II, even during the difficult economic times of the 1930s.
Suburban growth rate exceeded core city rate in each metropolitan area.
Suburban areas received nearly 60 percent of growth in 1930s.
Suburban growth rate was 2.8 times core city rate. Core cities of Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis and Boston all lost population.

OBSERVATIONS: EXCLUDING NEW YORK-NEWARK AND WASHINGTON
 82% of core city growth was in New York-Newark and Washington.
Suburban areas received nearly 85 percent of growth in 1930s outside New York-Newark and Washington.
Suburban growth rate was more than 10 times core city rate.

CHANGES TO METROPOLITAN DEFINITIONS
 The "metropolitan district" classification, used since the early 20th century, was replaced by "metropolitan areas" by the US Census Bureau in 1950. The two concepts were not comparable, so that comparisons between 1940 and 1950 are not readily available.

    Metropolitan District Population     Core City(s) Population  
Metropolitan Area 1930 1940 Change % 1930 1940 Change %
New York-Newark 10,901 11,691 790 7.2% 7,213 7,710 497 6.9%
Chicago 4,365 4,499 134 3.1% 3,376 3,397 21 0.6%
Philadelphia 2,847 2,899 52 1.8% 1,951 1,931 (20) -1.0%
Boston 2,308 2,351 43 1.9% 781 771 (10) -1.3%
Detroit 2,105 2,296 191 9.1% 1,568 1,623 55 3.5%
Pittsburgh 1,954 1,994 40 2.0% 670 672 2 0.3%
San Francisco-Oakland 1,290 1,429 139 10.8% 918 937 19 2.1%
St. Louis 1,294 1,368 74 5.7% 822 816 (6) -0.7%
Cleveland 1,195 1,215 20 1.7% 900 878 (22) -2.4%
Baltimore 949 1,046 97 10.2% 804 859 55 6.8%
Minneapolis-St. Paul 832 911 79 9.5% 736 780 44 6.0%
Washington 621 908 287 46.2% 487 663 176 36.1%
Buffalo 821 858 37 4.5% 573 576 3 0.5%
Cincinnati 759 789 30 4.0% 451 456 5 1.1%
Total 32,241 34,254 2,013 6.2% 21,250 22,069 819 3.9%
                 
Outside New York & Washington 20,719 21,655 936 4.5% 13,550 13,696 146 1.1%
                 
    Suburban Population     Population Change  
Metropolitan Area 1930 1940 Change % Metropolitan Core City(s) Suburbs Share in Suburbs
New York-Newark 3,688 3,981 293 7.9% 790 497 293 37.1%
Chicago 989 1,102 113 11.4% 134 21 113 84.3%
Philadelphia 896 968 72 8.0% 52 (20) 72 138.5%
Boston 1,527 1,580 53 3.5% 43 (10) 53 123.3%
Detroit 537 673 136 25.3% 191 55 136 71.2%
Pittsburgh 1,284 1,322 38 3.0% 40 2 38 95.0%
San Francisco-Oakland 372 492 120 32.3% 139 19 120 86.3%
St. Louis 472 552 80 16.9% 74 (6) 80 108.1%
Cleveland 295 337 42 14.2% 20 (22) 42 210.0%
Baltimore 145 187 42 29.0% 97 55 42 43.3%
Minneapolis-St. Paul 96 131 35 36.5% 79 44 35 44.3%
Washington 134 245 111 82.8% 287 176 111 38.7%
Buffalo 248 282 34 13.7% 37 3 34 91.9%
Cincinnati 308 333 25 8.1% 30 5 25 83.3%
Total 10,991 12,185 1,194 10.9% 2,013 819 1,194 59.3%
                 
Outside New York & Washington 7,169 7,959 790 11.0% 936 146 790 84.4%
                 
Metropolitan Districts with core cities over 400,000 in 1940 and with substantially the same core city boundaries in 1940 as in 2000
Staten Island, which was largely undevelooped in 1950, is excluded from New York-Newark core city population.
Population in thousands (x1000)              

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