Study Finds Thousands Of American Cities Could See 25% Of Their Population Leave By 2100

The world is changing – and if you’re thinking that it’s been doing that for awhile now, I promise you’re not prepared for how different things could look while your children are still alive.

This recent study found that many factors could combine to turn major cities into ghost towns before the turn of the next century.

In fact, this research claims that between 12 and 23 percent of the population of 30,000 US cities will disappear by 2100.

They are likely to be fractured, thinned, and sprawling small communities, not true cities at all.

“The implications of this massive decline in population will bring unprecedented challenges, possibly leading to disruptions in basic services like transit, clean water, electricity, and internet access.”

Population decline could lead to shuttered grocery stores, neglected infrastructure could mean no clean water, and people would just start to leave for greener pastures.

So to speak.

The graduate students who began the study were merely trying to determine potential transportation challenge that could crop up in Illinois as populations change.

They expanded their analysis to include all 50 states, using US census data to estimate population trends and other metrics to consider five possible future climate scenarios.

“Most studies have focused on big cities, but that doesn’t give us an estimation of the scale of the problem.”

As of today, 43% of US cities are losing residents, and that is almost certain to rise.

They conclude that up to 64% of cities could be in decline by 2100, with the Northeast and Midwest likely being the hardest hit.

Texas and Utah won’t be far behind.

This research does not take into consideration economic or social factors, or climate-change-fueled migration, so these results are more than a little uncertain.

That said, more information isn’t like to improve these scenarios in many ways, if at all.

“What is certain is that an important cultural shift in planning and engineering communities is needed, away from conventional, growth-based planning, to accommodate a dramatic demographic shift.”

It’s going to be a brave new world.

I’m glad people are starting to figure out how we’re going to survive it now.

If you enjoyed that story, check out what happened when a guy gave ChatGPT $100 to make as money as possible, and it turned out exactly how you would expect.