ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Census Bureau estimates Western New York lost population over the last five years, including almost 7,500 fewer residents in Erie County, according to the latest estimate for 2025.
Executive Mark Poloncarz is skeptical of the data.
"If we were really losing population, you'd start to see the housing market cool off. It's not," Poloncarz said. "It's still hot as can be. It's tough to buy a home. It's tough to get an apartment right now at a reasonable rate."
He noted similar estimates were released before the last official census.
"Well, I take it with a little bit of healthy skepticism because they showed the same numbers in the years leading to the 2020 census," Poloncarz said.
"We actually grew by 34,000 or 3%," Poloncarz said.
However, Poloncarz expects future population numbers to drop because the Trump administration is greatly curtailing immigration.
"It has shut down. There's no doubt about that. There's still some immigrants that are moving into our community that are approved by the State Department. It's just not at the same level as it was before. But if we're going to see that, we probably will see it in the 26 and 27 numbers, not from the early part of this decade," Poloncarz said.
WATCH: New census estimate shows drop in Erie County population
I spoke to some families at the West Seneca Public Library on Monday about raising their families in Erie County's suburbs.
"It's home. It's familiar. It's comfortable. She'll go to the same elementary school I went to," said Ryann Marks of Orchard Park, who was enjoying reading with her 4-year-old daughter, Mae.
"I would love to find more places to bring people together, to find more community," Marks said.
Rob and Emily Bennett also shared their reasons for staying in the area.
"This is where our family is, and, yeah, we just plan to stay around family," Rob Bennett said.
"It's transitioning kind of to younger families moving in," Emily Bennett said of their neighborhood in West Seneca.
"Yeah, my grandmother actually lives in our neighborhood and my dad grew up in that neighborhood," Rob Bennett said.
10-year-old Mia Battista, a fourth grader at Cleveland Hill Elementary School in Cheektowaga, shared her thoughts on her neighborhood.
"I like where I live because I really like my neighborhood and I love my neighbors and they're really nice and I love my school and everything around it," Battista said.
"I want to be a teacher," Battista said. "I want to teach at my school."
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