Idaho population up 1.3 percent, result of migration

KETCHUM, Idaho – Strong migration helped Idaho to its largest population gain since before the Great Recession.

U.S. Census Bureau figures released this week show Idaho’s population was up more than 1.3 percent during 2014. That’s the ninth-strongest growth in the nation, and Idaho’s strongest since 2008.

The state’s estimated population was above 1.6 million in mid-2014. It rose by more than 21,000 people from a year earlier, the Idaho Mountain Express reported.

Nearly 9,400 more people moved to Idaho from other states and countries than moved out of the state between mid-2013 and mid-2014, the highest net migration total since 2008. Three-quarters of those immigrants were from other states.

From 1990 through 2010, Idaho posted annual population growth rates of more than 1 percent. Growth exceeded 2 percent a year during the mid-2000s expansion and 3 percent in 1993 and 1994. In 2011, growth slid to just 0.8 percent, and then to 0.7 percent in 2012. The national population rose 0.7 percent to almost 319 million in the 12-month period ending in summer 2014. In the previous year, the national population rose 0.8 percent.

North Dakota led population gains with an increase of 2.2 percent.

Six states lost population: Alaska, Connecticut, Illinois, New Mexico, Vermont and West Virginia.