The city's recent population declines are even harder to take since the rest of Utah, with a few exceptions, continues to grow steadily. From 2000 to 2004 the state's population rose from 2,233,169 to 2,469,230 — a 9.6 percent increase.

City leaders have a difficult time explaining the decline, especially since the city's housing market is good and home prices are rising.

"It's not like there's a lot of vacant houses sitting around Salt Lake City," cCouncil cChairman Dale Lambert said.

In Love's neighborhood "homes sell quickly. In my neighborhood homes stay on the market maybe one or two days. It's not like we have deserted neighborhoods or anything."

And beyond the good market the city has tried to encourage housing development through low-interest loans, first-time homebuyer programs and Redevelopment Agency projects.

Despite those efforts, U.S. Census data shows the city shrunk by 2.5 percent between 2002 and 2004.

From 1990 to 2000 the city's population boomed from a 30-year low point of 159,928 to 181,743, reaching its highest level since 1960 (189,454), before the development of suburban sprawl.

The city kept growing until 2002 when its population peaked at 183,160.

But since 2002 the city has witnessed two straight years of decline. By 2003 the city's population had dipped to 179,894, and just-released data for 2004 show the city's population fell to 178,605, a 2.5 percent decrease in two years.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com