Politics & Government
Sunset Hills and Crestwood Buck the County Trend in Round One Census
Crestwood and Sunset Hills post modest population gains while St. Louis County loses residents.
Even as both St. Louis city and county have lost population, south county continued to grow over the past decade, according to newly-released 2010 U.S. Census figures.
Data from the 2010 Census shows the population of , Sunset Hills and the surrounding areas grew by 283 residents. While that’s a small number compared to previous decades, St. Louis County’s population dropped by 1.7 percent or 17,361 persons over the past decade. By comparison, just north of I-44, Kirkwood and Webster Groves, both posted substantial population losses since 2000.
St. Louis County spokesman Mac Scott said Thursday that County Executive Charlie Dooley had not yet gone over the data released Thursday.
Find out what's happening in Sunset Hills-Crestwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"We really haven't had a chance to sit down with him and kind of go over these numbers," Scott said. Scott said a decline of over 2 percent population in St. Louis County would be a concern.
Locally, Crestwood’s population rose by 49 persons, to 11,912, while increased by 229, to 8,496. The unincorporated neighborhoods between the two cities also showed slight gains in population, while Grantwood Village recorded a loss of 20 residents.
Find out what's happening in Sunset Hills-Crestwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
One place south county residents will feel the impact of population change is in the voting booth. Districts will likely change based on the new data, and choices as to who represents a certain area at the state and levels would change.
Missouri will lose a Congressman.
Currently, the dividing line between Missouri’s second and third Congressional districts runs through the Crestwood-Sunset Hills area, as does the line between Missouri’s first and fifteenth Senatorial districts. The state legislature will likely use Census data to re-draw district boundaries to reflect the distribution of population throughout the state.
The re-drawing process is not exclusively based on numbers, but is typically politically charged, as parties hope to gain an advantage or majority in a area, or at the very least not lose ground.
In addition, census data has a variety of uses, including to determine Crestwood 's and Sunset Hills’s share of sales taxes collected by St. Louis County.
So far, the U.S. Bureau of the Census has released only the basic population information needed for legislative redistricting. Additional data will be made available by the Bureau in the weeks to come.
Below in chart form are the most recent 2010 figures, followed by 2000 Census numbers, for comparison.
Population data from the 2010 Census:
Crestwood Sunset Hills St. Louis County Missouri Total: 11,912 8,496 998,954 5,988,927 Population of one race: 11,713 8,376 980,358 5,864,338 White alone 11,168 7,992 701,948 4,958,770 Black or African American alone 191 129 233,029 693,391 American Indian and Alaska Native alone 18 17 1,962 27,376 Asian alone 280 199 34,597 98,083 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 7 2 307 6,261 Some Other Race alone 49 37 8,515 80,457 Population of two or more races: 199 120 18,596 124,589 Hispanic or Latino (cultural designation, may be any race) 229 139 25,024 212,470 18 or older (voting age) 9,472 6,738 764,780 4,563,491Population data from the 2000 Census:
Clayton-Richmond Heights Editor Nate Birt contributed to this article.
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