One Idaho town is among the fastest-growing communities in the nation. That’s just one finding in the latest release of data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Idaho’s fastest-growing city is Meridian. The Treasure Valley town was the tenth fastest-growing community in the U.S. during 2017.
“They added over 4,000 people in population,” says Janell Hyer, a longtime analyst at the Idaho Department of Labor.
She says the four main cities of the Treasure Valley: Nampa, Boise, Caldwell and Meridian are among the biggest and fastest-growing communities in Idaho. Hyer says just six cities lost population between 2016 and 2017, with 19 towns seeing no change.
Despite constant talk of growth, Hyer says the numbers show the majority of the state remains a patchwork of small towns.
“Of Idaho’s 200 incorporated cities, 167 of them have less than 5,000 people,” says the research analyst.
With a population of a little more than 226,000, Boise remains the state’s largest community. Warm River, population three, is the smallest incorporated city.
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