Willow and Hearth

The Cities Losing People Faster Than Anywhere Else

Memphis, Tennessee, is losing residents faster than any other major U.S. city this year, shedding population at a rate of 0.99 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2026, according to an analysis from the Bank of America Institute, which tracks migration using the bank’s internal account data rather than survey responses. Newsweek’s mapping of the findings, released September 4, 2026, rounds out the top five fastest-shrinking metros: Washington, D.C. (down 0.73 percent), Los Angeles (down 0.63 percent), Boston (down 0.60 percent), and Miami (down 0.57 percent).

Not Every City Is Losing Residents for the Same Reason

For most of the cities on the list, the institute’s analysis points to one consistent driver: the cost of staying has outpaced what residents are willing or able to pay. Washington, Los Angeles, Boston, and Miami are all among the country’s most expensive metro housing markets.

Memphis breaks that pattern. The institute’s analysis attributes that city’s outsized losses less to affordability and more to a shortage of job opportunities and elevated crime rates, according to Newsweek’s reporting. It’s a longer-running trend rather than a sudden 2026 development: Memphis has lost nearly 36,000 residents since 2010.

The Places Picking Up the Difference

The same analysis found the opposite pattern taking hold in smaller, more affordable metros, particularly across the Midwest. Salt Lake City posted the strongest population growth in the data set, gaining residents at a rate of 1.88 percent year-over-year, even as larger coastal metros continued to shrink. Cities with the highest cost of living are steadily losing residents to metros where housing is cheaper, and in Memphis’s case, where the local job market itself has failed to keep pace.