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Census: Middletown loses 2,000 in 10 years

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By Chelsey Levingston, Staff Writer 2:13 AM Thursday, March 10, 2011

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown started the last decade at its highest population level, but a bruising economy in more recent years returned the city to population levels last seen in the 1970s.

Middletown had a population of 51,605 people in 2000 and ended the decade with 48,694 in 2010, a decline of 5.6 percent, according to the U.S. Census. The city was among Ohio’s 16 largest cities to see a decline.

But the loss of 2,911 people wasn’t surprising to City Manager Judge Gilleland. The latest estimates released by the Census in 2009 had the city at a flat 51,601.

“We anticipated a slight population decrease given the history of Middletown and the state of the economy,” she said, noting the city’s population in 1970 was 48,767.

In the decade before last, the city annexed three square miles, said Marty Kohler, Middletown director of planning. That added about 5,000 to the count in 2000.

But Gilleland said the city is going through a rebirth this decade, purposefully “rightsizing” its communities by getting rid of housing stock and anticipating the completion of the Greentree Health Science Academy and the potential location of a Cincinnati State Technical & Community College branch campus downtown.

Other Butler County cities saw slight upticks, overall growing 10.6 percent by Census counts. The highest growth of the surrounding counties was in Monroe, where the population grew 74.4 percent to 12,442 people. Parts of Middletown and Monroe are in Warren County, again the second fastest growing county.

Staff writer Ken McCall contributed to this report.

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