Most Newcomers Headed for Urban Idaho in 2007

While the vast majority of newcomers to Idaho continued heading to the most populated counties in 2007, new Census Bureau figures show slightly more of the people coming from other states and nations settled in rural counties than in preceding years.

Based on county population estimates for July 1, 2007, just over 80 percent of the 35,500 increase in statewide population from mid-2006 occurred in the six counties with populations over 70,000. That compared to 84 percent of the growth between mid-2005 and mid-2006 and 85 percent from mid-2004 to mid-2005.

Those large counties – Ada, Bannock, Bonneville, Canyon, Kootenai and Twin Falls – accounted for 28,500 of the additional population, and only Bonneville County had a higher growth rate in 2007 than in 2006. Only Bannock County had a lower growth rate than the statewide average of 2.4 percent.

By contrast, 20 of the 38 counties with under 70,000 persons, over half, had stronger growth in 2007 than in 2006, according to the figures released late Wednesday. In fact eight rural counties which posted population losses from mid-2005 to mid-2006 – Adams, Lincoln, Elmore, Butte, Caribou, Cassia, Oneida and Minidoka – gained population in the mid-2007 estimates.

The new estimates covered the strongest 12-month period that the state economy has experienced in decades.

Statewide, the 2.4 percent population growth ranked fourth nationally. Over 55 percent of the growth was the result of people moving from other states or countries, the ninth highest percentage among all the states.

Idaho’s most populated counties rose 3.1 percent last year compared to 3.6 percent in the July 2006 estimates while the rural population was up 1.3 percent compared to 1.1 percent a year earlier.

Canyon and Jefferson counties were among the fastest growing counties with over 10,000 population in the United States. Canyon County, which has benefited from living costs lower than neighboring Ada County, recorded a 4.5 percent population increase to rank 48th nationally, and Jefferson County, which is absorbing new growth around Idaho Falls, was up 4.3 percent to rank 57th. Canyon County posted a 4.9 percent increase in mid-2006 while Jefferson was up just 3 percent. Teton County with a population of 8,349 had the greatest increase at 6.9 percent.

The strength of the economy statewide may have been responsible for limiting what has been a persistent migration from rural to urban Idaho over the past two decades. Only six counties – Bear Lake, Clark, Clearwater, Lemhi, Lewis and Shoshone – lost population between mid-2006 and last July. That compared to nine the year before. Nineteen counties including those six saw 1,552 more people move out than move it, but the other 13 had enough natural population growth to avoid population loss. The outmigration in 2007 compared to nearly 2,500 more people moving out of 16 counties than in a year earlier.

Only three counties – Clearwater, Lemhi and Shoshone – reported more deaths than births, a sign of an aging population as younger families move away. But that was also down from nine counties where deaths exceeded births in 2006.

County Population Estimates, July 1, 2007 County 2007 Population Change from 2006 % Change Net Migration Net Births Idaho 1,499,402 35,524 2.43% 21,837 14,198 Ada 373,406 11,762 3.25% 8,301 3,630 Adams 3,546 66 1.90% 59 16 Bannock 79,925 459 0.58% -430 890 Bear Lake 5,863 -47 -0.80% -59 16 Benewah 9,243 32 0.35% 0 32 Bingham 43,466 377 0.87% -170 544 Blaine 21,560 149 0.70% -71 219 Boise 7,571 109 1.46% 94 21 Bonner 41,050 661 1.64% 580 99 Bonneville 96,545 3,012 3.22% 1,735 1,296 Boundary 10,872 259 2.44% 213 53 Butte 2,771 27 0.98% 2 27 Camas 1,102 35 3.28% 21 15 Canyon 179,381 7,797 4.54% 5,440 2,448 Caribou 6,862 15 0.22% -26 42 Cassia 20,960 195 0.94% -6 202 Clark 906 -1 -0.11% -18 18 Clearwater 8,231 -40 -0.48% -31 -10 Custer 4,166 58 1.41% 53 7 Elmore 28,856 475 1.67% 116 365 Franklin 12,203 173 1.44% 35 138 Fremont 12,517 112 0.90% -19 138 Gem 16,496 198 1.21% 139 67 Gooding 14,250 75 0.53% -27 109 Idaho 15,345 88 0.58% 66 16 Jefferson 22,851 940 4.29% 562 375 Jerome 20,066 402 2.04% 159 240 Kootenai 134,442 3,722 2.85% 3,008 792 Latah 36,299 173 0.48% -23 192 Lemhi 7,717 -28 -0.36% -29 -2 Lewis 3,581 -37 -1.02% -44 10 Lincoln 4,497 105 2.39% 42 68 Madison 36,647 445 1.23% -327 769 Minidoka 18,564 34 0.18% -127 161 Nez Perce 38,932 384 1.00% 358 55 Oneida 4,106 14 0.34% -13 29 Owyhee 10,835 82 0.76% -4 90 Payette 22,751 610 2.76% 438 172 Power 7,684 11 0.14% -89 99 Shoshone 12,838 -57 -0.44% -39 -14 Teton 8,349 539 6.90% 413 127 Twin Falls 73,058 1,811 2.54% 1,289 562 Valley 8,945 272 3.14% 233 50 Washington 10,147 56 0.55% 33 25 Source: U.S. Census Bureau