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NYC, Capital Region grow, but Columbia, Greene shrink

Mar 22, 2018 7:30 am

Kenneth Crowe is reporting in the Times Union the most recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau are now out and show that while the population has grown in and around New York City and the Capital Region, upstate continues to lose residents. The high-tech, health care and higher education sectors are feeding the expansion of the Capital Region’s expansion, according to local experts. Mark Eagan, CEO of the Capital Region Chamber noted the region's private sector job growth is greater than all other metropolitan areas statewide. Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady all showed population gains between 2010 and 2017. During the same period, Columbia County's population decreased by 3.9 percent; Greene County's by 3.6 percent. "The region's more rural counties continue to struggle, but investments in them – from those for craft beverage industry to Downtown Revitalization Initiatives in Glens Falls and Hudson – should go a ways in reversing population trends," said Andrew Kennedy, a former official with the Cuomo administration. The fastest-growing counties nationwide are in the south and west, according to the Census Bureau. That growth is fed by domestic migration. Read the full story in the Times Union.