Strongsville's Population is Getting Older--and Smaller

Strongsville's population has aged in the last decade, which indicates the flood of young families moving into town has tapered off and residents are staying put.

Meanwhile, the city has lost about 1,000 residents in the last decade, according to the latest U.S. Census estimates.

Estimates compiled between 2005 and 2009 show the median age in the city is now 42.6, up significantly from the 2000 average of 39.1.

Along those lines, there are fewer kids here now--children under 18 now make up 25 percent of the population, while in 2000 they accounted for 26.6 percent. And there are more senior citizens now. Where in 2000, 11.4 percent of the population was 65 or older, today older adults account for 15 percent of Strongsville residents.

"It's an aging community," Strongsville City Planner Bob Hill said. 'Those numbers sound about right."

The trend signals a mobility slowdown as the building boom of the 1980s and '90s has ended, and a stagnant economy has all but frozen the housing market.

"With the housing downturn and the economic situation, it makes sense," Hill said.

But Hill is challenging another census estimate that shows Strongsville's population is declining. While the 2000 census showed the city had 43,858 residents, a 2006 estimate said the population had dropped to 43,347 and the 2009 figure has it even lower, at 42,834.

"I don't think we lost population," Hill said.

His own estimate, which he put together in 2008 by totaling the building permits for new homes in Strongsville every year during the decade, stands at 46,890.

"Mine may be high, but I don't think the new census is going to show we lost people," Hill said. "There hasn't been that much out-migration."

He said the first 2010 census figures for city populations are expected to be released in May.