My family and I have lived in Massachusetts for about three years now and we like it here a lot. Although we live about two hours west of Boston, we are still firmly in the Boston “sphere of influence.” So I found this recent news item noteworthy as a demographer and as a pseudo-Bostonian: Boston is losing population in a big way:

Suffolk County -- which is dominated by Boston but also includes Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop -- saw a 1.48 percent decline in residents last year and a 5.15 percent decline over the past five years, placing the Hub dead-last in population growth among the 100 largest counties in America, according to Census Bureau estimates released and analyzed yesterday.

Among all 3,141 counties in the United States, Suffolk’s loss of 9,835 residents last year was the sixth-highest decline in hard numbers, according to census data.

“It’s not good,” said John Bitner, chief economist at Boston’s Eastern Bank. “When you have a declining population, it starts feeding on itself. It’s tougher on small businesses. It’s 10,000 less haircuts, 10,000 less trips to dry cleaners. It becomes a downward (economic) spiral.”

The article goes on to note that the data indicate that the reasons for Boston’s population decline are not just because of a loss of jobs, but also because baby boomer “empty nesters” and yuppies are moving in while lower-income and blue-collar workers with families are moving out, with one of the major factors for their exit being high costs of living and lack of affordable housing.

Although I can’t find any data off the top of my head, I do seem to remember that data do show that Boston has one of the highest costs of living in the country. I’m not sure what the state, Suffolk County, and/or Boston can do to help stem this negative tide, but unfortunately I do see this trend as another example of the widening gap between the rich and the poor in our country.

That is, it’s probably not a coincidence that those who are moving out of Boston tend to be more poor and working class, while those who are moving in are more affluent. If true, the question becomes, Is this what Boston wants -- to be known as a sort of “elitist” city that’s attractive to the well-off but unattainable for almost everybody else?