CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland's population estimate now stands at 385,809, down 2,003 from the projection made last year. But, in a bit of good news, the Census Bureau continues to estimate slower losses than those that occurred in the city a decade ago.



The Census Bureau on Thursday released 2016 population estimates for each town in the United States. County and state estimates were released earlier.

The new city estimates show:

Though Cleveland is down 11,006 residents since the census in 2010, this pales in comparison to the 81,646 drop in population from 2000 to 2010.

North Ridgeville is the

The

Columbus has moved ahead of Indianapolis to become the

Yet, a caveat comes with the annual population estimates: these are just estimates based on the best available data. They are not as accurate as the official counts every 10 years, nor are the city estimates historically as accurate as county and state estimates. Birth, death and migration data is available for counties as a whole but not cities.



Nevertheless, these are the only snapshots available between each census to judge probable trends.

Here is some of what cleveland.com found in reviewing the new data:



Cleveland and the Cuyahoga County suburbs



While Cleveland has lost an estimated 11,006 residents since the 2010 census, Cuyahoga County suburbs have combined to lose even more - an estimated 19,764.



Growth for many Cuyahoga communities is limited where there is little room left for new housing. Pepper Pike has grown the most, adding 219 residents to reach 6,198 in the new estimates.



Losing the most, after Cleveland, were Parma (down 2,176 to 79,425), Lakewood (down 1,852 to 50,279) and Euclid (down 1,560 to 47,360).



Fastest growing places in Ohio



North Ridgeville, now with an estimated 32,983 residents, ranks sixth in population gain statewide after adding an estimated 3,518 since 2010, and third in percentage gain among cities at 11.9 percent.

The Lorain County city borders Cuyahoga County.



Statewide, the biggest gains have been by five central Ohio cities:

Columbus grew by 73,057, or 9.3 percent, to reach 860,090. Hilliard grew by 6,470, or 22.8 percent, to 34,905. Grove City grew by 4,146, or 11.7 percent, to 39,721. Delaware grew by 3,890, or 11.2 percent, to 38,643. Dublin grew by 3,817, or 9.1 percent, to 45,568.

In Northeast Ohio, after North Ridgeville, the two fastest growing cities are Avon (up 1,612, or 7.6 percent, to 22,805) and Wadsworth (up 1,569, or 7.3 percent, to 23,136).

Hilliard's 22.8 percent growth ranks second for percentage gain in Ohio, behind another Columbus suburb.

New Albany is up 34.1 percent, or 2,636 residents, since 2010, reaching 10,360.



Ohio's largest cities



The list of Ohio's 10 largest cities is unchanged since 2010, but most have been losing population:

Columbus, up 9.3 percent to 860,090. Cleveland, down 2.8 percent to 385,809. Cincinnati, up 0.6 percent to 298,800. Toledo, down 3 percent to 278,508. Akron, down 0.7 parent to 197,633. Dayton, down 0.7 percent to 140,489. Parma, down 2.7 percent to 79,425. Canton, down 2.3 percent to 71,323. Youngstown, down 4 percent to 64,312. Lorain, down 0.6 percent to 63,730.

Columbus now No. 14 nationally



Columbus moved ahead of Indianapolis and is now the nation's 14th largest city.



Columbus trails No. 13 San Francisco by just over 10,000 residents, but it might be difficult to overtake San Francisco soon. Columbus and San Francisco are growing at about the same rate, the Census Bureau estimates.



New York City, far and away, is the nation's largest city at 8,537,673. Los Angeles has 3,976,322 and Chicago has 2,704,958.



Cleveland's ranking at No. 51 is unchanged from a year ago. Cleveland reached a high of 914,808 in 1950, dropping to 396,815 at the time of the last census when it ranked 45th in size.



National gainers and losers

The growth alone in New York City since 2010, with the addition of 362,540 residents, is almost equal to the total population of Cleveland (385,809).

Other fast growing cities were in the West or Southwest, led by Houston (up 204,031), Los Angeles (up 183,701), Phoenix (up 169,385) and San Antonio (up 165,103).

Among places of at least 100,000, the fastest growing by percent were Frisco, Texas (up 39.9 percent), Kent, Washington (up 38 percent) and McKinney, Texas (up 31.4 percent).

Losing the most were Detroit (40,982), Cleveland (11,006), Toledo (8,700), St. Louis (7,890) and Baltimore (6,297).

By percent for places of at least 100,000, the sharpest declines were Detroit (down 5.7 percent), Rockford, Illinois (down 3.4 percent), Toledo (down 3 percent), Montgomery, Alabama (2.8 percent) and Cleveland (2.8 percent).

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner.

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