Gary's 2022 estimated population decreased 1.6% since the 2020 census. Its population is down 62% since its 1960 peak of 178,320. The city has as many residents now as it did 100 years ago.
Source: Wikipedia
Vintage News, 5/17/2023
Gary, Indiana was founded in 1906. It was named after Elbert H. Gary, founding member and company chairman of the steel production company, U.S. Steel. Located about 30 miles from downtown Chicago, Gary became a manufacturing hotspot, especially after the development of the new Gary Works steel plant just two years later.
As steel production flourished in the early 20th century, the steel mills in Gary were attractive employers for people looking for work. This included African American migrants from the South and immigrants from other countries. With the influx of people, the community that built up around the steel mills began to thrive.
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However, when the steel business began to decline, so did the city. The American steel industry saw its peak following the Second World War, with Gary Works employing a remarkable 32,000 people. But by the 1970s , the global market for steel had shifted. Foreign manufacturers began to take over the steel industry, and Gary’s steel companies felt the pressure. Additionally, improvements in the automation of steel production reduced the need for physical workers.
Gary lost one-quarter of its population during the 1970s.
1/17/2022 update starts here
What used to fuel Gary's economy
Gary's population decreased 14% from 2010 to 2020. Since its 1920 peak, the city's population decreased 61%.
Northwest Indiana Times, 8/12/2021
The last time Gary had so few residents was a hundred years ago in 1920, when the census found 55,378 people living among the steel mills and sand dunes just 14 years after the city was established in 1906 by U.S. Steel founder Elbert Gary.
Gary Mayor Jerome Prince said he's concerned by the city's new population count and plans to investigate whether Gary residents were missed by census takers. [Maybe he can check on the past 5 censuses while he's at it.]
Either way, Prince said he's committed to growing Gary's population by putting policies and programs in place to attract more businesses and residents, including capitalizing on the city's "tremendous technology assets."
Gary's population peaked in 1960 at 178,320. Its 2017 estimated population is 76,008 -- a drop of 102,312, or 57.4%.
Source: Wikipedia
African-Americans comprised 29.3% of Gary's population in 1950.
Related reading:
White flight followed factory jobs out of Gary, Indiana. Black people didn't have a choice. (The Guardian, 3/28/2017)
Gary, Indiana, is dying. It’s a city built around a manufacturing industry mostly gone. The death isn’t complete; there are still a few factories and a few neighborhoods with nice, small homes. Other parts are only slightly scarred, with boarded-up or burned-down houses sandwiched tightly between well-kept homes. Some parts are just dead: overgrown streets lined by empty lots and broken buildings.
No city is an island. Gary is considered a part of the Chicago metropolitan area.
The disappearing cities:
Baltimore, Maryland. (12/31/2018)
Cleveland, Ohio (1/2/2018)
Detroit, Michigan. (1/1/2019)
St. Louis, Missouri. (1/2/2019)
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