Census estimates show the St. Louis region's population is steady with city below 300,000

The St. Louis region has a stable population, according to new estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 14-county region hovered around 2.8 million people, only shedding about 10,000 between 2020 and 2021, but the changes weren’t evenly distributed. St. Louis and St. Louis County and counties in the Metro East continued to lose people while St. Charles, Franklin and Jefferson counties added population.

The bureau pegged St. Louis’ population at 293,310 in 2021, down from the official 2020 census count of 301,578. This is the second time the bureau estimated the city’s population was below the 300,000 line, which first happened in the 2020 estimates.

But the census estimates are just that: estimates, meaning they come with a margin of error, said Ness Sandoval, a St. Louis University sociology professor and demographer.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2022-03-24/census-estimates-show-the-st-louis-regions-population-is-steady-with-city-below-300-000