The core of the Omaha metropolitan area is doing better at attracting and keeping its residents — a good sign for redevelopment efforts in established parts of the city.
A new population analysis from a University of Nebraska at Omaha researcher shows that Douglas County turned around its typical net loss of residents to other Nebraska counties. The figures showed that Douglas County had a net gain of 843 people moving within the state between 2008 and 2009, the last year figures were available to document people's moves year to year and county to county.
At the same time, the net population gains in Sarpy County slowed.
During the 2000s, Douglas County had been running a net loss to Sarpy County of more than 1,000 residents a year. But that dropped to a 374-person net loss in 2009.
David Drozd, a researcher with UNO's Center for Public Affairs Research who analyzed IRS records to find movement patterns, said the shift could stem from economic factors that favored Douglas County through the recession.
People looking for jobs could have turned to the employment center of Douglas County, Drozd said. Others might not have been able to get financing to build a new suburban home, he said, or might have moved closer to jobs in Douglas County to save money on gasoline.
While the numbers don't exactly pinpoint Omaha, the metro area's central city accounts for almost 80 percent of the Douglas County population. The UNO center plans to further analyze the characteristics of people making the cross-county moves.
The numbers are a sign of progress as the City of Omaha focuses on redeveloping such areas as downtown, midtown and other parts of the city east of 72nd Street.
Real estate developers, with support from the city, are spending hundreds of millions of dollars betting that their projects will appeal to new residents and businesses.
"Finally, after many years, we're seeing redevelopment efforts pay off," said Marty Shukert, an urban planning consultant and former director of the Omaha Planning Department.
The 2010 Census population counts showed that, during the first decade of the century, Omaha lost thousands of residents in the area encompassed by the city limits in 2000.
But the latest analysis provides a more detailed look at population shifts toward the end of the decade.
Shukert said the numbers indicate a growth in housing units, households and overall popularity among residents.
The research center's analysis also indicated improvement in rural Nebraska. The 74 counties not in metropolitan areas or outlying other regional centers, the center said, lost a net of about 1,500 people, but that was down from 2,400 previously.
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