The city of Pittsburgh continued incremental population decline in 2008, but at a smaller rate of loss than in most of the past decade, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

The figures released publicly today estimate the city lost 1,668 residents from July 1, 2007, to July 1, 2008. Pittsburgh's population of 310,037 ranked 60th in the country, just behind New Orleans and ahead of Riverside, Calif.

Estimates released in March showed Allegheny County to be 30th largest in the country and the Pittsburgh metropolitan area to rank 22nd, both also with their smallest annual drop in population since the 2000 census.

Overall, since that last official census count, Pittsburgh has lost an estimated 24,526 residents, or 7.3 percent, of its population at the time. Among the 273 cities with more than 100,000 residents, only Buffalo, Cleveland, Flint, Mich., and New Orleans experienced worse rates of decline. The next formal head count occurs in April 2010.

In 2007-08, according to the census estimates, Pittsburgh was among 46 large cities that lost population, with 13 doing so at a faster rate than the city.

The city's and region's population loss spans the past half-century. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl expressed optimism yesterday that factors like the Pittsburgh Promise tuition aid program for city high school students and attention surrounding the G-20 summit in September will help reverse the decline.

"This will not happen overnight," he said in a statement, "because we did not get here overnight."

New Orleans, where population plummeted after Hurricane Katrina, turned around to show the biggest rate of growth last year. Four of the fastest-growing cities of 100,000 or more were in Texas.

New York City, the nation's most populous city with 8.4 million residents, added 53,000 of them last year.

Pittsburgh officials spoke earlier this year about possibly challenging census bureau annual estimates for the city as too low, as some other communities have done successfully.

The mayor's spokeswoman Joanna Doven said yesterday it was too early to speculate on whether the new numbers would be challenged. She said the administration is focusing its attention on creation of a Complete Count Committee to try to prod all city residents to participate in the 2010 census.

One small accomplishment for the city: It is once more ahead of Toledo, Ohio, in the rankings. The northwestern Ohio city leapfrogged Pittsburgh last year by a successful challenge of the 2007 estimates. The 2008 estimates place Toledo two spots behind Pittsburgh, with 293,201 residents.

The population figures for municipalities across the region and country are available at www.census.gov.