Deschutes County growth among fastest in U.S.

Like it or not, want it or not, the Bend area keeps on growing – and at one of the fastest rates in the country, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Thursday.

The new estimates for population growth in the year ended last July 1 show the Bend-Redmond metropolitan area – actually encompassing all of Deschutes County – gained 4,433 residents over the previous year, up 2.7 percent to 170,388 residents.

That’s the seventh-fastest growth rate among U.S. metro areas over that period, on a list topped by The Villages in Florida, which grew by exactly twice that rate, at 5.4 percent. The only other Northwest city in the Top 20 – Boise, Idaho, at 2.1 percent, which came in at No. 20.

Deschutes County grew much faster than the state of Oregon overall which the Census Bureau estimates grew by just 1.1 percent, or 42,171 residents, to total 3,970,239 Oregonians. The estimates are based on a births, deaths, migration and housing unit data.

Interestingly, the Census Bureau figures are higher than ones from the Portland State University Population Research Center, which said Deschutes County grew by 2.4 percent, or 3,875 people over the same period to 166,400 residents – that’s about 4,000 fewer than the federal agency’s estimate.

The figures are also a bit higher for Crook County, which the Census Bureau estimates grew by 1 percent to 20,998 people (PSU estimated 20,690 residents), and Jefferson County, which it said added 365 residents, or 1.7 percent, to a population of 22,192 (PSU’s estimate was 22,040).

While Deschutes County’s growth rate was the fastest in the state, Jefferson County wasn’t far behind, ranking fourth-fastest growth for the year; Crook County came in at No. 9.

Population growth and distribution is about more than just bragging rights, as the population figures are often used to decide who gets what share of state and federal dollars.