“[…] population counts don’t show everything cities should know about their housing needs, and they may miss important trends. We should also pay attention to households, which include all people who live in a single housing unit. Even if a place is losing people, it could be gaining households, and that is more relevant to understanding housing demand and market pressures.”
https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/cities-losing-population-could-still-be-gaining-households