St. Louis has been taking it on the chin for a long time, but the pain hasn’t been spread evenly.
The city’s Black population has been steadily dropping since 2000, and for the first time in 25 years, St. Louis is a white majority city, according to the latest U.S. Census estimates (released June 26, 2025).
That milestone was expected: White city residents have outnumbered Black residents since at least 2020, but neither group had more than 50% of the total — until now.
The latest census estimate finds 140,417 whites in the city, or 50.2% of the total population, and 118,756 Black residents, or 42.5%.
It’s a remarkable change in such a relatively short period. St. Louis became a Black majority city for the first time in the 2000 Census, when Black residents represented 51.2% of the population and whites, 43.9%. But the population was much larger too.
The city’s population has fallen by about 68,500 people since 2000. The decline in Black residents has been the biggest factor — down 59,500 in that same period.
Clearly, the collapse of neighborhoods in north St. Louis and the resultant outmigration of residents — predominantly Black — has been the biggest factor. Why the city failed to stanch the bleeding is another story.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch/175527995/
Roland Klose 