America's Eight Most Downsized Cities

March 25, 2009— -- In a way, it's the same old story: The Rust Belt, comprised of blue-collar cities where the manufacturing industry once dominated, can't seem to find a way to thrive.

Take Pittsburgh. Despite the fact that the city's steel industry began to deteriorate all the way back in the 1970s, the city is still better known for its mills than for its $10.8 billion stake in the technology and life-science sectors, including companies like Bayer, BPL Global and Plextronics.

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Same goes for Buffalo, N.Y. Once a great producer of steel and automobiles, the city's bioinformatics research industry is now flourishing. Yet just like Pittsburgh, Buffalo is shedding population.

To be direct: If Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel or John Mellencamp has written a melancholy song about your city, it's probably on this list.

And that's the problem. General perceptions of these Rust Belt cities--that they're backward, dilapidated and cultureless--are often too harsh. And that's why, over the last decade, these areas have seen the biggest decreases in population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"Reputations die hard," says Kathryn Foster, director of the University at Buffalo's Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth.

The plight of these cities is double edged. A lackluster reputation often keeps potential newcomers away, while young adults born there tend to flee because of a lack of a diverse range of opportunities. However, many of those born and bred in the area do return when its time to "settle down," according to Foster.

Yet Sean C. Safford, a business professor at the University of Chicago and author of Why the Garden Club Couldn't Save Youngstown: The Transformation of the Rust Belt, says that it has a lot more to do with a area's business infrastructure than its "ick" factor.

Youngstown, for example, "had an economy that basically grew up in another era," he says. When the steel industry began its decline in the 1970s, Youngstown moved on to another failing industry: autos. The few companies that have adapted to the new economy have kept globally competitive by outsourcing, which is good for their finances but bad for Youngstown.