Quote Originally Posted by TaurusNYC View Post
I agree, Mary Fallin is an embarassment. But I wanted to comment on the population charts. Clicking the link to newgeography, I found that all metropolitan areas listed except for one (Philadelaphia at -0.01%) have experienced popultion growth from 2010 to 2013. For example, New York has gained 400,000 residents since 2010. Think about that. New York City has absorbed nearly as many residents as the entire population of OKC - in three years. American cities and suburbs are growing, because the entire population of the country is growing. We have one of the higher birth rates in the developed world, we have a lot of immigrants, and domestically people are leaving small towns for big cities. We imagine that people are leaving New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and St. Louis, and Buffalo, but in fact all of those metropoliltan areas are growing.
The data shown in the article actually showed overall population growth from 2010-2013 for every city on the list except for Buffalo and Cleveland. Philadelphia had a population growth of 1.06% over that time frame.

You're right that those cities all had overall population growth. But what that study shows as fact is that current US residents are leaving those cities more than other current US residents are moving there. Cities like NYC continue to grow because the rate of immigration and births are happening even faster. That doesn't change the fact that among current US residents who have the option, more people are choosing to leave than are choosing to arrive. Which is the whole point of the study.