The Latest Census Bureau Population Estimates

In Focus
By the Numbers:
By NAR Research Staff

The Census Bureau recently released its latest estimates of the U.S. population. This report provides details on the fastest growing areas in the country – both metropolitan area and counties -- as well as raw population numbers for cities and counties. Below is a summary of the Census Bureau’s findings.

Largest Populations
New York claims the top position as the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. As of July 1, 2008, the New York metro had 19.0 million people. Los Angeles was second with 12.9 million and the Chicago
metro ranked third with 9.6 million. All in all, 14 metro areas had populations of 4 million or more.

The largest county was Los Angeles with 9.9 million persons. Cook County (which includes part of the Chicago metropolitan area) boasts 5.3 million. Overall, 12 counties had populations of 2 million or more.

Fasting Growing Areas
The nation’s 363 metropolitan areas account for almost 84 percent of the U.S. population. The majority of them posted a growth in their population between July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008; only 50 of them actually saw their population decrease.

In percentage terms, the fastest growing metropolitan area in the U.S. was Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina. The metro’s population rose 4.3 percent between July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008, gaining almost 45,000 people. Austin-Round Rock, Texas was the second fastest-growing metro, adding 60,000 to the area for a 3.8 percent increase.

In terms of actual numbers, the Dallas- Fort Worth metro area gained the most, adding more than 146,000 persons to its population. Three other metro areas also became home to more than 100,000 from 2007 to 2008, including Houston (130,000), Phoenix (116,000) and Atlanta (115,000).

Population growth in the nation’s 3,142 counties was a bit more balanced, with 1,974 counties growing, the population of 1,161 counties shrinking, and seven counties maintaining their 2007 population levels. The fastest-growing county (with more than 10,000 population) was St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana. That area grew 12.8 percent. Ranked second among counties was Pinal County in Arizona, increasing its population by 8.8 percent. Seven of the 10 fastest-growing counties were in the South. In addition, large metro areas — those whose populations in 2008 were a million or more – were located in nine of the 10 fastest-growing counties. They include the Chicago metropolitan area (Kendall County, Illinois, ranked fourth), Atlanta metro (Forsyth County, ranked fifth), and Dallas-Fort Worth (nine-ranked Rockwall County, Texas).

When looking at the actual number of new residents in counties, we get a somewhat different picture. Maricopa County in Arizona added more residents than did any other county – 89,550 persons.

Harris County, Texas was second, having increased its population by 72,153. Los Angeles and San Diego Counties in California were next in terms of absolute population gain. The top 10 counties gaining the most new residents were in Arizona, California, Texas, Nevada and North Carolina.

The Foreign-born Population
Metropolitan areas in the South in general are also among the fastest growing immigrant destinations. Phoenix and Atlanta both have well over a half million immigrants, and Las Vegas and Orlando each have more than one-quarter million foreign born residents. Immigrant populations in well-established gateway metro areas such as New York and Los Angeles are growing more slowly, a function of their large absolute size.

America’s immigrant population can, in some ways, still be viewed as geographically concentrated. More than half of all immigrants live in the top 10 metropolitan destinations: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, Riverside-San Bernardino,and Phoenix. By contrast, a little over one-quarter of all Americans live in the 10 largest metro areas.

Dallas-Ft. Worth, Washington, D.C.,Atlanta, and Las Vegas have emerged as major destination areas only in the past two decades.

The Relationship Between Population and Households
It’s important to note that raw population numbers can only give us an idea of how many households reside in any particular area. It is, after all, households that purchase homes, not necessarily
individuals.

For example, the latest household estimates from the Census Bureau for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan area show a total of 461,335 households, of which 301,698 were family households and 159,637 were non-family households (including 1-person households). Real estate professionals who are interested in “drilling down” to find out more detailed information about the number of households in their counties or metropolitan areas are advised to visit the Census Bureau’s web site or click directly on the Bureau’s “American Fact Finder” at http://factfinder.census.gov/.