April 9, 2004

County has second-highest population growth in state

The Ithaca Journal reports that Census Bureau estimates find Tompkins county grew 1.6% last year, well above the state's overall growth of 0.3%. Orange County grew 2.1%, and the other counties with major growth were all in the Hudson Valley. Counties losing population tend to be in the Southern Tier.

The article quotes Tompkins County Planning Commissioner Ed Marx on some possible reasons for growth:

"Tompkins County has become the employment center for the region," Marx said. "Our job growth has outpaced our population growth. That could be drawing more people here to live. Housing prices are up dramatically and more people our looking for housing in the area. Those things would be factors to support such a conclusion."

The article also notes that these are just estimates, and that estimates haven't always reliably predicted growth here.

Posted by simon at April 9, 2004 8:29 AM in , ,
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