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City grows 2.5%
Durango passes 16,000, county above 50,000
Herald Staff Writer
The town's population rose from 16,006 in 2007 to 16,416 in 2008, a 2.5 percent increase.
Statewide growth was also fairly robust as Colorado's population rose from 4,842,770 to 4,939,456, a 2 percent increase.
Meanwhile, La Plata County's population cracked 50,000 for the first time, rising from 49,520 to 50,482, a 1.9 percent gain.
Population growth means more economic activity and more customers for businesses, said Ed Morlan, executive director of the Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado.
"It's better than losing population from an economic standpoint," he said. "It's kind of a symptom. People are coming to the town, one would assume, because of some kind of opportunity."
Some of the population growth may be the result of annexations, he said.
The population growth constitutes a bit of good news for Durango retailers, restaurants and other businesses that have suffered from the economic downturn. But population growth has downsides, too, said Mark Pearson, executive director of San Juan Citizens Alliance. Pearson also writes a column for The Durango Herald.
"The obvious one people see every day is traffic and congestion in the roadways," Pearson said. That reinforces the need for multiple modes of transportation other than passenger cars, he said.
City Manager Ron LeBlanc cautioned against reading too much into one year's growth. But, he said, "I think 2.5 percent is a manageable amount and is within the means of our infrastructure."
Durango has grown consistently each year this decade, from 13,922 in 2000.
Bayfield's population rose from 1,961 to 2,024, a 3.2 percent increase.
In Ignacio, the population actually slipped from 772 to 767. The decrease was less than 1 percent, but it continued a six-year trend. Since 2002, Ignacio's population has fallen from a high of 828.
The U.S. Census Bureau annually releases population estimates based on births, deaths, Medicare enrollment, federal income-tax returns and other data. The data are as of July 1 each year. Every 10 years, the bureau conducts a full census.
Denver broke into the top 25 cities nationwide with a population of 598,707 ranking 24th. New York City continued to be American's most populous city, with 8.4 million residents.
New Orleans was the fastest-growing city, recovering somewhat from the population loss it suffered from Hurricane Katrina. As of July 1, 2008, the population of New Orleans was 311,853, up from 210,768 in 2006 after the hurricane but still below the pre-hurricane level of 484,674 based on the 2000 Census.
Four of the top 10 fastest-growing cities were in Texas.
chuck@durangoherald.com
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