Politics & Government

US Census: Lakewood's Losing Population

While the official 2010 census count put the city at 52,131 residents, that figure dropped to 51,724 in 2011, the estimate says — a loss of 407 people in one year.

Lakewood is getting smaller, a new estimate from the US Census Bureau shows.

But not by too much.

After all, there are still 9,420 people per square mile in Lakewood.

Find out what's happening in Lakewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While the official 2010 census count put the city at 52,131 residents, that figure dropped to 51,724 in 2011, the estimate says — a loss of 407 people in one year.

But there's still some good news for the city. Lakewood stayed just above the required 50,000-resident mark needed to remain an "Entitlement Community."

Find out what's happening in Lakewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That means the city will be able to continue receiving Community Development Block Grants from the federal government.

The trend of the city’s population slide may be reversing, with the school district recently announcing an anticipated spike in enrollment in the coming years.

The Census figures also show that Lakewood continues to become significantly more diverse and younger.

Other highlights from this Census report include:

  • In 2011, the city’s percentage of “foreign-born” residents is 7.9 percent — compared to 3.9 percent in Ohio as a whole.
  • More than 11 percent of the residents speak a language, other than English, at home.
  • For people older than 25 in Lakewood, a whopping 39 percent of the population hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. Compare that to the state as a whole: 24.5 percent.
  • The per capita income of Lakewood residents — $27,365 — is slightly higher than the state — $25,618 — however, the percentage of Lakewood residents below the poverty line — 17.1 percent — is higher than the state average at 14.8 percent.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here