Seattle is back on top. Among big cities, Seattle is growing faster than any other (on a percentage basis) as it added 20,847 people between July 1, 2015 and July 1, 2016, according to new US Census Bureau estimates. That 3.1% year-to-year growth puts Seattle at an estimated 704,352 residents as of July 1, 2016, which confirmed what I had guessed in February that Seattle had crossed the 700,000 mark.
Almost 11 months have passed since the effective date of the estimate. That means if Seattle maintained its 3% growth rate–no guarantee–Seattle’s population would surpass 725,000 by July 1, 2017–18 years ahead of one projection.
Leading big cities in growth rate has urbanists around the country gushing. City Observatory‘s Daniel Kay Hertz tweeted “be like Seattle.” Houston Chronicle economics reporter Lydia DePillis tweeted “Seattle is doing something really, really right.” She noted that the Seattle metropolitan area became 3% more dense as the city of Seattle led the nation in growth. We are growing up much more than we are growing out.
Seattle is doing something really, really right. pic.twitter.com/CYrhTIkPky
— Lydia DePillis (@lydiadepillis) May 25, 2017
