Fast-growing Indian community drawn to St. Louis by its welcoming spirit

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Between 2010 and 2020, the St. Louis region grew by 1.2% — one of the slowest rates for a top metropolitan area — topping 2.8 million people.

“All things being equal, we should have grown more than 1.2% just on births alone,” said Ness Sandoval, who researches demography and sociology at St. Louis University. “There should be some concern that St. Louis is not growing as fast as it should grow.”

The data indicate people either moved around the region or left it entirely in the past decade, he said.

St. Charles and Jefferson counties continued growing, while St. Louis, St. Louis County and counties in the Metro East struggled to hold onto their residents. Most wound up shrinking.

“A lot of the changes we’re seeing in the region is internal migration,” Sandoval said. “A fair amount of that growth in St. Charles County was probably people leaving St. Louis County.”

Sandoval chafes at how leaders in St. Louis and St. Louis County characterized population trends in the past decade. The city’s population hovering above 300,000 is no cause for celebration, he said.

“When I moved here in 2008 and we were getting ready for the 2010 census, I remember people saying, ‘As long as we don’t go under 310,000, we’re gonna be good,’” Sandoval said. “That bar keeps going lower and lower each time.”

Leaders in the city, county and region as a whole need to focus on transforming St. Louis’ image to attract more young people, he said.

“They have to imagine St. Louis as a place to call home,” Sandoval said."...