This is the case all over the country. When people say things like "St. Louis has lost over half its population" all it really means is that the small city cent

This is the case all over the country. When people say things like "St. Louis has lost over half its population" all it really means is that the small city center lost those people to the suburbs. What any reasonable person would call "St. Louis" didn't actually lose 50% of its people. This applies basically everywhere. And a failure to really understand it leads to all sorts of erroneous conclusions about the rust belt.