The fastest growing metro area in the country is St. George, Utah, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released this week. It's population jumped four percent from 2016 to 2017.
St. George, 120 miles northeast of Las Vegas on Interstate 15, had a metropolitan population topping out at 165,662 in 2017, up from 159,237 the year before, the bureau estimated.
That was good enough to beat out the Myrtle Beach, Conway and North Myrtle Beach area in South Carolina and North Carolina, where the population increased 3.7 percent, from 447,793 in 2016 to 464,165 in 2017.
Pam Perlich, director of demographic research at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, told the St. George Spectrum that the area has plenty more growing to do and that's coming with retirees from northern Utah, Southern California, and elsewhere, along with a diverse cross-section of new workers and students.
"Certainly it's tied to the growth dynamic of the Greater Las Vegas area, but it's got its own internal growth dynamic, and there isn't another county in the state we can point to that has this," Perlich told The Spectrum.
Clark County, Nevada, where Las Vegas is located, experience the second biggest population jump of any county in the nation, increasing 47,355 residents (to 2.204 million from 2.156 million) from 2016 to 2017, only behind Phoenix's Maricopa County, which had an increase of 73,650 residents (to 4.307 million from 4.233 million).
Perlich added that with tourism, vacation homes, rentals, and second homes for people dodging the winter snow, area residents will also find plenty of people in town who are not part of the official population as well.
"You could easily add another 20 percent to that (population) at any given time," Perlich told The Spectrum.
Along with St. George and Myrtle Beach, other areas making the Census Bureau's top 10 for fastest growing metro areas included:
- Greeley, Colorado, 3.5 percent (304,633 from 294,243);
- Bend/Redmond, Oregon, 3.4 percent (186,875 from 180,675);
- Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 2.9 percent (157,637 from 153,144);
- Lakeland/Winter Haven, Florida, 2.9 percent (686,483 from 667,018);
- Boise, Idaho, 2.8 percent (709,845 from 690,810);
- Provo/Orem, Utah, 2.7 percent (617,675 from 601,478);
- Austin/Round Rock, Texas 2.7 percent (2,115,827 from 2,060,558);
- The Villages, Florida, 2.5 percent (125,165 from 122,121).
When it comes to numerical increases, three Texas cities landed in the Census top 10, more than any other state. The Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington area topped that list, going from 7.399 million in 2017 from 7.253 million the year before.
The Houston/The Woodlands/Sugar Land area came in second place nationally with an increase of 94,417 residents, giving the city a total of 6.892 million from 6.798 million. Austin came in ninth overall.
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