Phoenix AZ Population Grows
March 20th, 2008 Posted in Cool Facts, Did You Know?Phoenix AZ Population Grows
Maricopa County added more people than any other county in the United States last year, swelling the population to almost four million people, according to new population estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
A net increase of about 102,000 people moved to the Valley or were born here between 2006 and 2007. As of July 1, 3.9 million people lived in Maricopa County. Pinal County, meanwhile, was the nation’s third-fastest-growing county, growing by 11.5 percent over the previous year, with 31,000 new residents. “The bad news is that there’s really been a slowdown” in Maricopa County, said William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution. “If you live there, you don’t feel it. The housing crunch, the difficulty of people being able to finance homes, and the reluctance to leave the homes they’re in had some part in (the slowdown).”
St. Bernard and Orleans, two Louisiana parishes hammered by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, were the nation’s fastest-growing counties in 2007 percentage-wise, fueled in part by residents returning after the disaster. St. Bernard grew by 42.9 percent. Orleans grew by 13.8 percent.
All but one of the nation’s 10 fastest-growing counties were in the South or West.
Among the 10 counties that added the largest number of residents between 2006 and 2007, half were in Texas; two were in North Carolina; and California and Nevada each had one. Los Angeles County lost 2,000 residents, but still remained the most populous county, with 9.9 million people.
Maricopa County kept booming with people like Kim Allred, who traded snowboarding for sunbathing a couple of years back.
Young and ready for life outside of Salt Lake City, she moved to Phoenix to start a career and have some fun. She thought about moving to California or New York, but Phoenix’s job market, housing prices, diversity and weather won her over.
“I can still take a road trip home,” said Allred, 25, who trains and prepares people to become foster parents at a non-profit. “I liked the atmosphere and the city, I had family here, and so I figured, why not.”
About 40 percent of Maricopa County’s new residents came from natural increase - the net gain of births and deaths between 2006 and 2007. About 39 percent came from internal (state-to-state) migration. An additional 21 percent came from international immigration.
The census data did not break down whether the immigration was legal or illegal.
Maricopa County’s growth this decade peaked from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, when it grew by 4.1 percent. The yearly growth rate dropped to 2.7 percent between 2006 and 2007, which so far is the lowest rate this decade, but still enough to call it a boom.
Projections by Maricopa County put the population at 5 million within the next 10 years.
Top-growth honors can also cause headaches.
More than ever, the pressure is on state, county and local governments to accommodate all the people, expand roads, preserve resources, provide quality education and amenities, and sustain services.
“(Governments) just need to keep thinking relentlessly to keep coming up with more right and bright ideas,” said Maricopa County Manager David Smith. “It’s almost a shame on us if we don’t anticipate and deal with some of the potential problems before they get here.”
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