2008 County/City Census Estimates

[Alcon]

Fastest growers in the past year:

1. St. Bernard, LA: +12.8%
2. Pinal, AZ: +8.8%
3. Orleans, LA: +8.2%
4. Kendall, IL: +7.1%
5. Teton, ID: +6.5%
6. Sublette, WY: +6.4%
7. Forsyth, GA: +6.3%
8. Williamson, TX: +6.0%
9. Rich, UT: +5.6%
10. Geary, KS: +5.5%
11. Kendall, TX: +5.5%
12. Rockwall, TX: +5.3%
13. Hays, TX: +5.3%
14. Franklin, WA: +5.3%
15. Lincoln, SD: +5.3%

Biggest losers:

1. Loving, TX: -22.2%
2. Kiowa, KS: -13.4%
3. Alpine, CA: -6.9%
4. Arthur, NE: -4.5%
5. Harding, NM: -4.5%
6. Crowley, CO: -4.4%
7. Sioux, NE: -4.3%
8. King, TX: -4.1%
9. McCullen, TX: -4.0%
10. Liberty, MT: -4.0%
11. Vernon, LA: -4.0%
12. Sheridan, ND: -3.8%
13. Towner, ND: -3.7%
14. Loup, NE: -3.6%
15. Bristol Bay, AK: -3.6%

[Alcon]

Biggest losers:

1. Loving, TX: -22.2%

12 people weren't loving Loving County.  So they left the other 42 souls behind.

Have you ever had the pleasure of reading up on Loving County?  There needs to be a television miniseries before it's too late.  So much potential.

Cumulative since 2000 [with 2007-2008 rank in brackets]:

Gainers
1. Kendall, IL: +89.7% [#4]
2. Flagler, FL: +83.1% [#73]
3. Pinal, AZ: +82.1% [#2]
4. Rockwall, TX: +80.2% [#12]
5. Loudoun, VA: +71.0% [#24]
6. Forsyth, GA: +70.8% [#7]
7. Lincoln, SD: +64.6% [#15]
8. Paulding, GA: +63.0% [#27]
9. Henry, GA: +60.5% [#88]
10. Douglas, CO: +59.7% [#68]
11. Newton, GA: +58.9% [#127]
12. Williamson, TX: +57.7% [#8]
13. Union, NC: +56.3% [#16]
14. Collin, TX: +55.0% [#33]
15. Lyon, NV: +53.7% [#640]

Wonder what drove the growth in Lyon County that crashed so quickly.

Losers
3190. St. Bernard, LA: -43.9% [#1]
3189. Loving, TX: -37.3% [#3190]
3188. Orleans, LA: -35.7% [#3]
3187. Esmeralda, NV: -30.3% [#2973]
3186. Cameron, LA: -27.6% [#3123]
3185. Issaquena, MS: -27.1% [#2242]
3184. Blaine, NE: -26.6% [#3147]
3183. Treasure, MT: -26.0% [#3069]
3182. Sheridan, ND: -26.0% [#3179]
3181. Bristol Bay, AK: -24.2% [#3176]
3180. Campbell, SD: -24.1% [#3166]
3179. Arthur, NE: -23.9% [#3187]
3178. Towner, ND: -23.4% [#3178]
3177. Garden, NE: -23.0% [#3173]
3176. Kiowa, KS: -22.5% [#3189]

[Alcon]

Yeah, Sublette is Green River country.  Old ranching country now gaining from an oil boom.  No tourism there whatsoever.  No one would want to.  Terrible place.

Franklin, WA, is Pasco.  The Tri-Cities (Pasco/Richland/Kennewick) have an especially strong economy, and there is a lot of incredibly cheap, flat land to build unless subdivisions on.  Amusing demographics.  It started with a Hispanic pocket in center city, which has gradually been expanding in exact proportion as the subdevelopments expand outward.  Also a terrible place.

Teton, ID, is Jackson Hole spill-over, yes.  Were the voting patterns this year any hint?

Rich, UT, uh...I have no idea.  Totally off the radar in previous years.  Bear Lake is there, and it's a tourist area.  All I know about Rich County is that its county seat, Randolph, gave like 96% to Bush.  (Edit: And here's the condescending news article).  Oddly, Randolph was down 5% since 2000 as of last year.  It's not even on the lake.  Terrible.

Geary, KS is Junction City.  Fort Riley is there, and I would be surprised if its growth was at all remarkable off-fort.  Junction City, after all, is a terrible place.  (Notice a pattern?)

I have no idea what's going on in Alpine, CA...shouldn't that place be growing?  Inexplicable to me.

[Alcon]

9. McCullen, TX: -4.0%

Is this McMullen, McCulloch, or McLennan?

McCulloch.  This is how you know that you have too many counties

[Alcon]

9. McCullen, TX: -4.0%

Is this McMullen, McCulloch, or McLennan?

McCulloch.  This is how you know that you have too many counties

It's McMullen after all.  So the the three big losers in Texas (King, McMullen, and Loving) are all sparsely populated.  King in the NW part of the state is surrounded by lots of other losing counties (no water, no oil => no people).  McMullen is in south Texas.  All ranches.  Tilden has a cemetery in the town square named Boot Hill.

Boot Hill

Ironically, Loving is surrounded by 3 fast growing counties (17th, 29th, and 30th).  The top 10 in Texas are all suburban, but then you start getting into some counties with oil booms, including Ward, Winkler, and Pecos.

God, you're right, I'm sorry.  I just eyeballed the estimate numbers and then looked at the wrong row.