T
he latest census count makes it official — Roanoke City’s population is once again above 100,000 for the first time in 40 years, and city officials expect the rebound to continue. You have to go back to 1980 for the last time census figures had Roanoke at 100,000 or more; for the next two decades, it was a gradual slide to less than 95,000 before the numbers started climbing again. Mayor Sherman Lea says without a doubt, efforts to revitalize Roanoke’s downtown and encourage new housing there have played key roles in the turnaround, as WFIR’s Evan Jones reports:
US Census figures for Roanoke City:
1980 — 100,220
1990 — 96,397
2000 — 94,911
2010 — 97,032
2020 — 100,011
