ABSTRACT
This chapter describes patterns and trends in urban shrinkage in the United States, with a particular emphasis on changes that have occurred at the census tract level over the past four decades. It discusses the data indicators, data sources, and analytical techniques used to explore shrinkage in the United States. The chapter combines the threshold method of identifying shrinking areas with time-varying population shrinkage centroids and location quotients to explore current and projected patterns of tract-level urban population shrinkage in the United States. Economic shrinkage creates a feedback effect that reinforces patterns of population shrinkage. The chapter explains the Census Bureau's rolling American Community Survey (ACS) that collects data on various socioeconomic characteristics of the population. It presents result from a series of related analytical operations that are collectively intended to describe geographic patterns and trends in urban population shrinkage in the United States.
