Iowa City Among Fastest Growing Communities in America

IC, two other Iowa metropolitan areas among fastest growing the nation

from the Corridor Business Journal

Three Iowa metropolitan areas were among the nation's 100 fastest growing metros between 2007 and 2008, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines, Ames and Iowa City metropolitan areas ranked 53rd, 57th and 68th in growth respectively.

More than 56 percent of Iowa residents now live in the state's 20 metropolitan counties, up from over 53 percent after the 2000 census. Beth Henning, coordinator of the State Library's State Data Center program, says almost all of Iowa's population increase this decade has been in and around metropolitan areas.

"It's a tale of two Iowas, with very different population trends in the metro and non-metro areas," Ms. Henning said in a report. "The 20 metro counties grew by 8.2 percent between 2000 and 2008 while non-metro counties dropped by 3.8 percent."

Dallas County continues to be the fastest growing county in Iowa and ranked 15th in the U.S. for growth between 2007 and 2008. Dallas County has grown by 47 percent this decade, adding 19,154 new residents for a total population of 59,930. Overall, 24 counties gained population between 2000 and 2008 while 75 counties lost residents.

Fifty-seven Iowa counties had more births than deaths since the 2000 census. Between 2007 and 2008, Polk County had the highest birth rate in the state, 16.5 births per 1,000 population; Winnebago had the lowest rate at 9.6 births per 1,000 population. The highest death rate, 16.5 deaths per 1,000 population, was in Monona County while Johnson County had the lowest rate at 4.2 deaths per 1,000 population.

Eighteen counties had a net gain of residents moving in between 2000 and 2008 while 81 counties had a net loss of people moving out. Between 2007 and 2008, Dallas County had the highest rate of people moving in, 35.8 per 1,000 population; Greene County had the highest rate of people moving out, 17.2 per 1,000 population.

Overall, Iowa's population has grown to 3,002,555, or 2.6 percent, since the 2000 census.