Cleveland, or The Forest City, is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie about 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border.
Population Size and Density in Cleveland Metro
Cleveland has an estimated population of {pop}, down from 396,000 at the 2010 census and its record high of 914,000 in 1950. The city proper has a population density of 5,107 people per square mile. The Greater Cleveland Metro area is the 28th largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. with a population of just over 2 million. The larger Cleveland-Akron-Canton Combined Statistical Area (CSA) has a population of 3.5 million, and it is the 15th largest CSA in the country.
Cleveland Diversity
Major ethnic groups include German (9.2%), Irish (8.2%), Poles (4.8%), Italians (4.6%), and English (2.8%). 4.5% of Cleveland's population was foreign-born as of 2000, with 41% born in Europe, 29% born in Asia, 22% born in Latin America, 5% in Africa and 1.9% in North America.
Cleveland is also home to several small communities of Slovaks, Slovenes, French, Hungarians, Arabs, Dutch, Czechs, Ukrainians, Scottish, Russian, Scotch Irish, Croats, Puerto Ricans, West Indians, Romanians, Greeks, and Lithuanians. At one time, Cleveland had the highest number of Hungarians outside of Budapest. Between just 1920 and 1960, the black population in the city rose from 35,000 to 251,000.
Cleveland Population Growth
Between 2000 and 2010, Cleveland lost 17% of its population, and some neighborhoods -- including Glenville and Hough -- lost up to 38% of their population between 2000 and 2007, although downtown Cleveland has gained population. This puts Cleveland in the same category as Youngstown, Ohio, and Detroit in terms of population decline.
Despite the bleak picture, Cleveland has been revitalizing its downtown area since the 1990s and more than $3.5 billion has been invested in redeveloping the area. Forbes recently ranked Cleveland as one of the top 15 emerging downtown cities in the country. In 2013, downtown Cleveland also saw record growth, both in terms of its economy and population. The city's core daily population has reached 125,000, which is the highest ever for the city.