Population losses were particularly severe in St. Louis, which lost 40 percent of its population, and in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo, each of which lost approximately one-third of its population. D.C. Some cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and San Antonio are growing rapidly, yet even in these metropolitan areas, suburban areas are growing faster still. The shift of population to the suburbs not only reduces the tax base of central cities but diverts limited resources away from much needed urban revitalization projects. Outmigration from cities continues in the 1990s . Despite well-documented examples of central city revitalization, for the period 1990 to 1997, the rate of population growth for the Nation's suburbs was twice that of central cities.
Immigrants bolster central city populations .
Since foreign immigrants tend to settle first in central city neighborhoods, selected high-density central cities have been spared even more significant population losses. Minorities are also moving to the suburbs. While discriminatory practices still limit the residential choices of many minorities, minority households are now moving in record numbers to the suburbs. During the first half of the 1990s, the share of minority households living in the suburbs of metropolitan areas with populations over 1 million rose from 27.0 percent to 29.3 percent. Even immigrants are joining the move away from the central city.