High Desert is still Oregon’s growth pace-setter

(Update: Adding Bend city planner’s comments)

When it comes to Oregon’s new arrivals over the past year, nearly one in 10 of them landed in Deschutes County, which led the state in growth – more than double the statewide figure, the Portland State University Population Research Center said Wednesday as it released new July 1 population estimates.

Oregon added 64,750 residents in the year ended July 1, a 1.6 percent increase over the 12-month period, the PSU figures show.

Meanwhile, Deschutes County grew by 6,295 residents to a population of 182,930, a rise of 3.6 percent, pacing the state.

Coming in No. 2 was neighboring Crook County, which added 525 residents to reach a population of 22,105, up 2.4 percent. Jefferson County added 400 residents over the year for a July 1 population of 23,190, a 1.8 percent increase – still above the statewide growth figure.

New city population estimates also were released Wednesday. Bend grew even faster than Deschutes County, adding 3,265 residents for a population of 86,765, a 3.9 percent rise from a year earlier.

Bend Senior Planner Damian Syrnyk noted that more than half of Deschutes County’s population growth occurred in the city of Bend. Also, he said, the growth by 3,265 residents is the largest one-year increase Bend has seen since 2010.

Redmond added 670 residents for a total of 28,265, a 2.4 percent rise. Prineville grew by 200 residents to 9,845, up about 2 percent, while Madras was fairly stable, adding 25 people for a population tally of 6,300 percent, up .3 percent.

Culver added just 10 residents, for a population of 1,420, a .7 percent rise. La Pine’s new population figure of 1,730 was up 55 from a year ago, a 3.2 percent increase. Metolius was the only High Desert city to see no change in its population estimate, holding at 740, the same as a year ago.

But Sisters was the fastest-growing city on the High Desert over the past year, according to PSU, adding 150 people for a growth rate of nearly 6.3 percent, to a total of 2,540 residents.

Cities and counties have 30 days to challenge the preliminary population estimates, if they find any issues, before they are certified. The estimates play a role in tax or other funding distributions by the state.

You can find the PSU 2017 city-county population estimates on this page.