In an analysis of 2010 Census data, University of Nevada Las Vegas urban studies professor Robert Lang says a decline in immigration and the recession contributed to slower growth in cities over the last decade.

Lang says some cities saw blacks relocating to the suburbs, even as cities attracted young professionals and empty-nesters; Washington, D.C., for instance, saw its population grow 5.2 percent despite a loss of black residents.

However, in most other cases, the added residents were not enough to cancel out the losses.

In locations like Charlotte, N.C., Nashville, and Orlando, Fla., immigrants chose to settle directly in the suburbs, bypassing cities altogether.

Of the 15 most populous cities in 2000, 14 lost residents or experienced declines in growth rates, with Philadelphia the only one to reverse a population decline from the previous decade.

Of the 35 cities that rebounded in the 1990s, Lang says Birmingham, Ala.; Detroit; Toledo, Ohio; and New Orleans saw the biggest decline in growth rates since World War II.

Source: " Most Major U.S. Cities Show Population Declines" USA Today (04/07/11)