Politics & Government
Local Reaction and Doubt as 2010 Census Numbers Are Released
Town and Country and Manchester leaders react Thursday to 2010 census numbers and Manchester's Mayor says he's not sure they're correct.
UPDATED: Friday 4:15 p.m.
As mentioned in the below article, Manchester Mayor David Willson contact Patch Friday to clarify if the census numbers were calculated correctly. Willson tells Patch Friday afternoon that he learned that they were calculated correctly and that the area in the 63088 zip code along Big Bend Road was counted as part of Manchester. Willson said given that information, he attributes the decline in population to families growing up and children moving out of parents' homes.
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The U.S. Census Bureau released the first look at Missouri’s detailed census counts Thursday.
As of April 1, 2010, Missouri’s population has grown by seven percent to 5,988,927, with a growth of 393,716 people since 2000, according to the Missouri Census Data Center.
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St. Louis County's population decreased by 17, 361 people, or about 1.7 percent, with a total population of 998,954 in 2010, which is down from 1,016,315 in 2000.
The total population in Town and County did not change much according to the latest census numbers, down by 79 people from 10,894 in 2000 to 10,815 in 2010. However, Manchester's population decreased more significantly, down 1,067 or about 5-and-a-half percent (See Charts Below) from 19,161 in 2000 to 18,094 in 2010.
Manchester's Director of Planning, Zoning and Development Franz Kraintz tells Patch he was not expecting such a difference from 2000 census numbers.
"I'm surprised at how much it's gone down. I was not expecting that much. It's too bad it went down because you like to think growth means progress," Kraintz said.
He said the city has made progress in the last decade with new shopping centers and it doesn't have an overabundance of home vacancies, so he attributes the decline to household size. He said, as households get older, the size or number of members decrease.
Manchester Mayor David Willson has a different idea though. He thinks some of Manchester south of Big Bend Road with the 63088 zip code may have been counted as Valley Park.
"I can't imagine that we lost that many people and Valley Park is up with that many more people. That doesn't make sense," Willson said.
He said Manchester city leaders became aware of an issue in that area when the census information was being collected last summer. Willson said it appeared some parts of the 63088 zip code, inlcuding Big Bend Crossing and Big Bend Station, which he said are in Manchester, were being counted as Valley Park. He said the city reported the issue to the Census Burea, but was told to wait until the numbers came out.
"They weren't coming up with a loss of people when they were including that area," Willson explained.
Thursday, Willson told Patch he's not sure the issue was corrected so he plans to check into it Friday and update Patch on what he learns.
If the numbers are accurate, it could affect funding received by the city of Manchester.
"The most immediate impact will be the distribution of taxes collected by the county, " Kraintz explained. He said St. Louis County distributes money collected from gas, cigarette and sales taxes. That pool of money is then distributed to municipalities based on their population. "These funds will be diminished significantly by the eleven hundred (person) decline we have," Kraintz added.
Town and Country Mayor Jon Dalton does not expect the new numbers to have any effect on the city.
"The results are not surprising or consequential," Dalton tells Patch. "It won't have any impact at all on our commitment or ability to provide services. There's no financial relevance to it."
Dalton said Town and Country has no plans to annex any additional areas and the developed areas are built out, those factors combined with current residential zoning requirements, do not leave much for census numbers to affect, especially such a slight change.
The Missouri Census Data Center also reports that Missouri is following a national trend by become more racially and ethnically diverse in the last decade. Missouri’s minority population increased from 16 percent in 2000, to 19 percent in 2010, the center stated in a release.
More in-depth information is expected from the U.S. Census Bureau this summer and will include national comparisons.
Population data from the 2010 Census:
Population data from the 2000 Census:
Manchester Town and Country St. Louis County Missouri Total: 19,161 10,894 1,016,315 5,595,211 Population of one race: 18,945 10,763 1,003,485 5,513,150 White alone 17,552 9,822 780,830 4,748,083 Black or African American alone 463 219 193,306 629,391 American Indian and Alaska Native alone 17 6 1,717 25,076 Asian alone 830 690 22,606 61,595 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 6 1 251 3,178 Some other race alone 77 25 4,775 45,827 Population of two or more races: 216 131 12,830 82,061 Hispanic or Latino (cultural designation; may be any race) 292 117 14,577 118,592 18 or older (voting age) 13,940 8,407 760,324 4,167,519Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.