Over the years, a place can really change. New leaders, new faces, new stores, and new laws all influence how a city or even state can adapt and grow, and the results are easy to see. One of the easiest of those results to look at is population size, and that particular statistic can change drastically, depending on where you are.
The
Movoto Real Estate Blog decided to turn our attention to Washington in particular in order to look for this change. We analyzed some data, and found the 10 fastest growing cities over the past five years. Those cities were:
1.
The City of Kirkland
2.
The City of Burien
3.
The City of Kent
4.
The City of Bothell
5.
The City of Port Orchard
6.
The City of West Richland
7.
The City of Snoqualmie
8.
The City of Pasco
9.
The City of Ferndale
10.
The City of Bellevue
If you’re not from Washington, you might be surprised to find you don’t know many of the names on these lists. But given the rate of growth in these places, you’ll probably be hearing more and more about them in the near future.
If you’re curious how we got these results, you can scroll down to the bottom of this article to see a description of our methods. For now, why don’t we tell you a little more about each of these 10 ever-growing cities, and take a look at why they ranked where they did.
1. Kirkland
This 12th largest city in in the state has so much going for it right now. Beautiful parks, friendly people, and roads that are good for pedestrians, cyclists, and cars alike… there’s really not too much of a downside.
It’s no wonder, then, that this place has been growing in size so much over the last five years. To be more precise, Kirkland grew a total of over 69 percent over only five years, with an average rate of growth of about 17 percent.
The cause of all this growth? Well, in 2011 Kirkland incorporated several nearby districts, causing its population to jump drastically, and giving it seven extra miles in area. This happened with several other cities in our top 10, which we’ll talk more about in the following sections.
2. Burien
This was another city which saw an incorporation of other areas during the time of our study, with the huge population spike of over 43 percent happening in 2011. This annexing caused Burien to become the 23rd largest city in
Washington over a single year.
For five year growth, Burien did very well in general. It grew a total of almost 45 percent during that time, with an average rate of growth of about 11 percent, easily making it the second fastest growing city in the state.
3. Kent
This was certainly one of the largest cities on our list, with a population of about 121,000 in 2014. Still, that didn’t keep it from having a really strong rate of growth over a five year span. In 2010, the population was only 92,411, but yet another annexing occurred in 2011, causing the population to jump up almost 28 percent in a single year.
From there, the population grew steadily by almost 1,000 people every year after, for an average growth rate of 7.65 percent over five years. In the end, the population of Kent rose a total of over 31 percent, making it the sixth largest city in the state.
4. Bothell
Recently, Bothell’s downtown has had a bit of a facelift. Streets were changed, buildings refurbished, and the city has expanded the area some. Of course, this makes sense considering the massive jump in population this spot has had.
You guessed it, this place too has annexed nearby areas to grow its population and area. from 2013 to 2014, the population jumped almost 21 percent, to the over 41,000 people that it is today. Before then, however, it continued to rise steadily, with the average rate of growth being just under six percent.
In the end, Bothell grew a total of about 24.3 percent over a five year span.
5. Port Orchard
Port Orchard is one seriously pretty place to call home, even if it is a little small at just over 13,000 people today. The views of the mountains are stellar, the port is gorgeous, and the whole city is just plain picturesque. It should come as no surprise that a place this beautiful would grow almost 18 percent in size over a five year span.
This was also the first of our cities not to have a huge jump in size due to major annexing of other local areas. The largest rise in population this place saw was nine percent from 2012 to 2013, and the average rate of growth was 4.23 percent.
6. West Richland
West Richland has seen pretty steady growth over the last five years. The population has risen by about 400 people each year, a significant number for a city of only 11,811 people in 2010. Now, however, the city is at a total of 13,620 people in size, a 15 percent increase over a five year span.
Given what this place is like, though, that number makes a lot of sense. West Richland is often very green, very small-town in feel, and is near much larger cities such as
Kennewick. All of that no doubt leads to the fact that West Richland had an average growth rate of 3.63 percent over the last five years.
7. Snoqualmie
Snoqualmie was definitely the smallest place on our list, at just 12,130 people in 2013. However, considering this city was only about 10,600 people just five years earlier, you might want to keep an eye on this place in the future. After all, at an average growth rate of 3.26 percent, this city won’t be so little much longer.
Over the decades, Snoqualmie has annexed quite a bit of land, giving it great growth potential, and its downtown is being refurbished right now. The city grew in size a total of over 13 percent in the last five years, so you can bet that new downtown is going to get a lot of use in years to come.
8. Pasco
Pasco is one that makes up the Tri-Cities area of Washington, along with Kennewick and
Richland. However, this place definitely has a style all its own. From Fiery Food festivals to Tri-City Dust Devils baseball, there’s a lot to take in. All that probably had a little something to do with the over 13 percent growth rate this place experienced between 2010 and 2014.
While Pasco didn’t have any major jumps in population over a five year span, and no major annexations, it did grow quite steadily. The average rate of growth was 3.19 percent, with the population rising over 1,000 people in size each year.
9. Ferndale
The little city of Ferndale, only 12,710 people in size today, is all about community. They have festivals, picnics, parades, and even races throughout the year. But this small-town feeling that thrives here doesn’t mean this place isn’t growing. It is. By an average rate of 2.73 percent.
What’s more is that the percent growth this place has received seems to be going generally up year after year. Between 2010 and 2014, the population rose a total of over 11 percent, a trend that is sure to continue in years to come.
10. Bellevue
French for “Beautiful View”, the city of Bellevue definitely lives up to this name. This is a bigger city, but the natural setting of this place alone is worth the trip. What’s more is a lot of people are clamoring to see this beautiful view, and live near it, with the population of the city rising almost 10 percent in the last five years.
This place did have a bit of a population jump in 2013, to the tune of six percent. However, the rise in population has been steady for a long time, at a total of 2.4 percent average rate of growth for the last five years. Now, at over 134,000 people, Bellevue is one of Washington’s biggest cities, and
Seattle’s biggest suburb.
A Salute To The Up-And-Comers
Though many of our top 10 places are small, they’re definitely on their way to the big time. High average growth rates all make these spots bigger and better every year, whether they started small or large. With strong cultures, interesting people, and a ton of growth potential, these are certainly some Washington cities we should keep an eye on in the years to come.
If you’re looking to get in on a great city before it gets too huge, feel free to drop us a line. We happen to sell houses, and we’d be happy to help you in your quest for a new home, no matter where your search leads you.
How We Created This Ranking
In order to create this
Big Deal List, we looked to the Office of Financial Management for data. We looked at all cities in Washington of over 10,000 people in size over a five year span, according to the
official population estimates collected by the OFM. We looked at the percentage of their size they grew each year, and then used that to find the average rate of growth over the five years.
Any place that did not have data available was omitted from our study, which left us with 78 cities. From there, we ranked each city in average rate of growth from one to 78, with scores closer to one being better.
The place with the largest percentage as their average rate of growth came out on top as the fastest growing city in the state.
