Buffalo's population is shrinking and other metros are set to zoom past Buffalo on the list of America's 50 largest metropolitan areas during the next few years. That's according to new projections from bizjournals.com, the online media division of American City Business Journals Inc., the parent company of Business First.
Researchers say the Buffalo metro, which is Erie and Niagara counties, had 1.14 million residents in 2005 when it was America's 47th-largest market. Projections show that the population will slip to 1.09 million in 2015. That would rank Buffalo 51st nationally, outside the top 50 for the first time.
bizjournals.com says Raleigh, Salt Lake City, Birmingham and Tucson will knock Buffalo out of the top 50. An additional four metros are projected to push ahead of Buffalo between 2015 and 2025: Fresno and Bakersfield, Calif.; McAllen-Edinburg, Texas; and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. By 2025, researchers say Buffalo will rank 55th.
You can find the full report in this week's Business First.
