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As the years go by, the city you call home is probably going to change a lot. Stores will come and go, you’ll see new faces, and you’ll watch kids grow into adults. You may even see your city grow to twice its size, or perhaps shrink down to a tiny town.
At the Movoto Real Estate Blog, we were curious how Oregon cities in particular grew or shrank in the last five years. So, we collected data from 2009 to 2013, and found the 10 fastest-growing cities in the state. Those cities were:
1. City of Happy Valley
2. City of Wilsonville
3. City of Sherwood
4. Oregon City
5. City of Cornelius
6. City of The Dalles
7. City of Hermiston
8. City of Damascus
9. City of Beaverton
10. City of Gresham
A lot of these places are awfully small, but they all have huge growth potential, as our numbers show. What numbers? You can find out in the section about our methodology at the end of this article.
For now, let’s take an in-depth look at why exactly these 10 places made our list.
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1. Happy Valley
This was far and away the fastest-growing city we looked at. Yes, it’s a very small place of only around 15,500 today, but in 2009 it was just over 11,000 people in size. That’s an increase of almost 36 percent in just five years.
The biggest jump in size occurred between 2010 and 2011, where the population shot up over 20 percent in a single year. The rest of the years tended to see a steady growth of around 4 percent, leading to an average growth rate of more than 8 percent, easily the highest on our list.
It just goes to show that people still value a close community, picturesque landscape, and, of course, a homey, friendly atmosphere—because Happy Valley has all of these going for it.
2. Wilsonville
This city had somewhat of a slow start. In 2009, Wilsonville had 18,020 people living within its borders, and a year later the population had risen less than half of 1 percent.
However, from there the population increase was pretty stunning. The population rose at an average of 4.6 percent over a five-year span, and today the population is well over 21,000.
That increase of almost 20 percent was helped along significantly by the 8 percent population increase in 2011, and was probably also aided by the thriving city culture. With festivals, a farmer’s market, and some recent refurbishing, this Portland, OR neighbor shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
3. Sherwood
This little city, also called “Smockville,” has a lot going for it. It has a nice library, wildlife refuges, and a great family friendly atmosphere.
On top of all that, it has some seriously great growth potential, as evidenced by the almost 3 percent average rate of population growth between 2009 and 2013.
Admittedly, this place has had its ups and downs. Between 2011 and 2012, the population rose by not even half of a percent, for example. However, just the year before, the population rose by well over 9 percent. In the end, the population of this Oregon city rose 11.63 percent over the five year span we looked at, and who knows what the future will bring?
4. Oregon City
A slightly bigger city in our top 10, Oregon City also saw a few ups and downs over the last five years.
Every other year, the percent growth seemed to rise and dip a bit like a roller coaster. In the end, though, the average growth rate over the five-year span was still an impressive 2.12 percent.
The center of this city is particularly picturesque, given that many buildings are quite old and have been well maintained over the years. This loveliness, and strong community, probably had a lot to do with the fact that this place has grown almost 9 percent in size between 2009 and 2013.
5. Cornelius
Cornelius finished just behind Oregon City in the rankings, with a total change in population of more than 8 percent.
Most of this population spike happened between 2010 and 2011, but the place is still small enough to be called “Oregon’s Family Town” by many locals. Seriously, one look at this city will let you know that it’s a pretty wholesome place to live.
It’s worth noting, however, that the growth for this city did taper off a bit in the last few years, with the city neither growing nor shrinking in population. Still, given the huge growth in other years, the average growth rate for this Washington County city was still a respectable 2.11 percent.
6. The Dalles
The county seat of Wasco County, The Dalles is another place whose growth has not been skyrocketing over the last few years.
However, between 2010 and 2011, the population here made a serious jump of more than 7 percent, making the average rate of growth here just about 2 percent. That may not seem huge compared to our No. 1 spot, but that’s still better than 40 other cities.
The museums and national landmarks in these parts are numerous, and this city does a great job of keeping people coming back for more, often to stay for years. In the end, The Dalles increased in population by almost 8 percent over the five years we analyzed.
7. Hermiston
This city saw steady progress as far as growth over the five-year span we examined.
There was a slight jump in population in 2011, but otherwise this was absolutely a continually growing spot to call home. The average rate of growth was over 1.5 percent, in fact.
It’s true that this place is still somewhat small, at just over 17,000 people nowadays, but with these trends, it won’t be small for much longer.
After all, it was just over 16,000 people in population in 2009, which means this Hermiston grew a total of 6.32 percent over a five-year span.
8. Damascus
West of Boring, this little city is anything but. Had its population remained as it was in 2009— just 9,990 people—it wouldn’t have even been included on our list, but this is one city that’s a serious up-and-comer.
Nowadays, the population here is approaching 11,000 people, jumping a total of 6.11 percent over a five-year period.
In general, the population increase has been small and steady over the years. It did have one major sudden increase of more than 5 percent in a single year, though, which helped it be included in this ranking.
With everything added up, Damascus had an average growth rate of around 1.5 percent.
9. Beaverton
This was most certainly one of our larger cities that we looked at, but it still managed to have its sight set on a bigger and better future.
Bigger is definitely a part of that equation, seeing as the total population here has gone up by a total of almost 6 percent percent over a five-year span. That means that the total population is now about 92,000 people.
This was yet another city that saw a jump in population around 2011. Generally, the population rose in small amounts steadily, but the sudden jump of well over 5 percent meant that the average rate of growth for this city was about 1.4 percent.
10. Gresham
Gresham was easily the biggest city on our top 10, with a population of over 106,000 people in 2013. That’s up an impressive 5.11 percent from its population in 2009, which was just over 101,000.
Located in Multnomah County, Gresham had a consistently rising population over the span of our analysis, and it shows no sign of stopping. In fact, if it continues to rise in population at its average rate of 1.27 percent, we’re likely to see Gresham as a major destination before long.
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So Much Potential In The Beaver State
With Oregon quickly becoming one of the more desirable places to live in the nation, it’s easy to see why many places would be growing so quickly. Whether it’s big cities getting bigger or just little cities gaining their footing, these 10 spots show that we should keep our eyes on the Beaver State in the coming years.
Eyeing Oregon as your next place to call home? Please let us know, because we sell houses when we’re not making rankings like these, and we know a few spots that you’ll be quick to fall in love with—no matter if you’re looking for a big city or for something smaller.
How We Created This Ranking
In order to produce this ranking, we turned to the Annual Oregon Population Reports from Portland State College for 2009 to 2013. Specifically, we looked at all cities over 10,000 people in size in 2013. Any place that was smaller than that or did not have reported data for any of those years was omitted, which left us with 46 places to analyze.
We looked at the population each year from 2009 to 2013, and from there we found the average rate of growth over those years. We then ranked each city from one to 46 in terms growth rate, with scores closer to one being better. The place with the highest growth rate became our No. 1 fastest-growing city.
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