U.S. Census Bureau: Baltimore's population falls, nearing a 100-year low

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Baltimore leaders have celebrated signs that the city appeared to have stopped hemorrhaging residents — and might even be gaining people.

But new federal estimates show the city population falling to near a 100-year low.

Baltimore's population fell by more than 6,700 people in the 12 months that ended July 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday, as the number of people leaving the city for other parts of the United States doubled.

The decline wiped out the city's meager gains under Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who sought to draw 10,000 families to the city. And the loss came as the city grapples with rising crime, a homicide spike, a school budget gap and the fallout from the death of Freddie Gray.

"That's a big loss," he said. "This is deeply problematic."

The figures put Baltimore at about 614,664 people, down more than 1 percent. It's now returned to about the same size it was a century ago.

The decline occurred amid modest growth statewide and regionally.

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