By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – In 2003, more than 4,700 people moved out of the City of St. Louis.
The majority, about 3,400 moved to St. Louis County, yet the county also lost more than 6,000 people overall in 2003.
Those numbers come from income tax returns, which give statisticians a picture of which counties people are moving to and from.
David Laslo is the director of Metropolitan Information and Data Analysis at the University of Missouri St. Louis. He says while the tax returns show St. Louis City and County continue to lose more people than they gain, the trend is slowing.
"I think it's very positive that when you look at the line it seemed to hit a bottom in the mid 90s and has trended upward ever since then," Laslo said.
Income tax returns differ from census numbers because they show how people are migrating from one place to another. In contrast, the census estimates total population through sample surveys.
Last year the City of St. Louis disputed the U.S. Census Bureau's numbers that found the city had lost more than 16,000 people over a three-year period. The census revised those numbers to show the city lost just 150.