The Baltimore Community Change Project combs data to figure out why the city is shrinking and how to reverse the trend

The city of Baltimore has been losing population for seven decades. What made the 38,000-person loss disclosed in the 2020 census so heartbreaking was not just its size--the city had seen bigger, even multiple, losses in previous decades. But Baltimore was the only city on the East Coast to shrink: New York, Boston, Atlanta all expanded. Nearby Philadelphia grew by 4 percent, Washington DC by 17 percent. What is driving Baltimore’s shrinkage? UB research professor Seema Iyer scrubbed the data. Some blame crime, but she says crime is a symptom of deeper failures: neighborhoods isolated, without social, civic, digital or transportation connections. Plus, Nneka N'namdi of Fight Blight Bmore discusses why demolishing vacants seldom fixes a neighborhood’s problems. Explore the Baltimore Community Change Project's research about how neighborhoods evolved from 2010 to 2020. Next week is Baltimore Data Week 2022. Find the schedule of events here.Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472