The just-released Census data show that the nation’s largest cities continue to grow at a glacial pace, relative to the US population. The 37 cities with more than 500,000 population had virtually no gain (0.06%) in 2023, versus 0.5% for the national population growth over the last year.

COVID lockdowns were a disaster for most big cities, and the residents aren’t (so far) coming back. Since 2020, the largest cities have lost nearly 650,000, while the nation was gaining 3,450,000 residents, indicating a gain of 4,100,000 residents elsewhere.

The five fastest-growing cities are all in states that voted for Trump in 2020. The five fastest declining cities are in blue states.