CLEVELAND — Estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau show Cuyahoga County’s population declined again in the 2018 fiscal year, adding to the significant drop of more than 35,000 residents since 2010. If not for immigrants and international newcomers, however, 2018s population losses would have been nearly double.
According to the bureau’s estimates, Cuyahoga County’s population in the 2018 fiscal year dropped by more than 4,500 people. The population decline comes despite roughly 3,800 more immigrants settling in the county, marking the eighth year in a row there have been such increases. In that time period, more than 28,000 immigrants have moved to Cuyahoga County.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in other ways. We’ve seen population ebbs and flows but consistently year after year we gain in international newcomers. It’s the reason Cleveland will continue to be a great city and we can be even greater if we can increase those numbers,” said Joe Cimperman, the director of Global Cleveland. “Those aren’t just occupants of a house or numbers on a census statistic. Those are families. Those are employers. Those are employees. Those are doctors and nurses who are helping to save us when we are sick. Those are Cleveland police officers. I think what we need to realize is that we’re doing something right.”
It’s not just Cuyahoga County either. According to federal statistics, the population of the state of Ohio would have shrunk if not for immigrants.The Akron metropolitan area would have also suffered population declines instead of a slight gain. Economists have long believed that, in terms of population, a county wants to be growing. Without a growing population, the number of available workers declines, stunting the overall economy.
Cimperman believes the increasing number of immigrants settling in Cuyahoga County is helping to safeguard against some of the negative ramifications of population loss.
“Those are people who are coming here who have choices to go other places. We’re not from Chicago. We’re not far from New York. We’re not far from other cities that are attracting people. They’re coming to Cleveland because we have something that is very special and we need to continue to maximize that to welcome international newcomers and immigrants,” Cimperman said. “When you look at the number of surgeons in Ohio alone who are born in another place… and the fact that we have the most immigrant-educated state in the nation, we have so many things that are going for us we just need to keep doing what we are doing and double down on it.”
The growing number of immigrants moving to Cuyahoga County comes as Cleveland, the county seat, was recently ranked as the number one city in America when it comes to becoming a U.S. citizen. Boundless Immigration, a Seattle-based non-profit, released a report in Februarythat said Cleveland had the county’s shortest wait time for processing, highest backlog clearance rate and the most efficient field office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
According to federal citizenship records, more than 2800 people became naturalized citizens in 2016. The following year, the number nearly doubled to 4797 people becoming naturalized citizens through the Cleveland field office.
Many of those people will opt to stay in Cleveland and surrounding communities, Cimperman said.
“I think it’s really important for Clevelanders to realize that no matter what happens, no matter where you see these numbers going, you cannot dispute an 8 year winning streak,” Cimperman said.
The newly-released census data shows the counties surrounding Cuyahoga County all experienced population gains from 2017-2018. The counties with the two largest gains were Lorain (increase of nearly 3000 people) and Medina (increase of nearly 1000 people).
