According to data released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau, rural Boundary County is among the leaders of all Idaho counties in three measures of population growth: total population increase, percent population increase, and net in-migration.
Consider this: of Idaho's 44 counties, Boundary County is in the lower half of the rankings in total population, coming in at #25 among all Idaho counties with an estimated 2015 population of 11,318 individuals, according to this most recent, newly-released data.
But with a population growth of 3.1% between July 2014 - July 2015, Boundary County ranks second in the state in its percent population growth, and is just barely behind first place Boise County, which had 3.4% growth. Boise County's growth may well be due to its commuting distance proximity to Boise and Ada County, but what explains remote, rural Boundary County's growth?
In percent increase, Boundary County forged well ahead of the state's urban counties, including Ada County, which had only 1.7% increase, Canyon County (Nampa area) with its rate of 2.2%, Kootenai County with 2.1%, and Bonneville County (Idaho Falls area) with 1.4% growth.
Even when you ignore percents, and just look at how many individuals were added to the county population, Boundary County again surpassed all but five counties in the state. Boundary County had a net increase of 341 individuals from the counting period of July 2014 - July 2015. Take a look at this list, which shows the top six counties in population growth for the period:
NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS INCREASED :
1. Ada: 7,364
2. Canyon: 4,527
3. Kootenai: 3,101
4. Bonneville: 1,563
5. Twin Falls 1,266
6. Boundary: 341
Of course, the straight up numbers of population increase in Boundary County are not going to surpass Ada, Canyon, Kootenai, or Bonneville counties, all of which have populations listed in six figures, with Ada County approaching half a million. But Boundary County's 341 person increase leads other Idaho county population heavyweights such as Bonner County, Bannock County (Pocatello area), Twin Falls County, Bingham County (Blackfoot area), and Latah County, where Moscow and the University of Idaho reside. All of those counties had population increases less than Boundary County's 341.
Boundary County is also #6 of all Idaho counties in net number of move-ins. Taking all who moved into the county during the period, and subtracting all who moved out, Boundary County had 313 more people moving in than moving out. Those 313 may not sound like a lot, but the net move-ins here were more than those in 38 other Idaho counties.
Looking at Idaho statewide, the state had a net increase of 20,124 individuals, for a percent increase of 1.2%, and a total estimated 2015 population of 1,654,930.
Looking at just number of individuals alone, analysts point out that the state’s overall 1.2 percent population increase was concentrated in the six urban counties of Ada, Canyon, Kootenai, Bonneville, Bannock and Twin Falls, accounting for 90 percent of the state's population growth and 65 percent of Idaho's overall population.
But they can't escape the fact that Boundary County is #2 in the state in percent population increase, #6 in the state in net move-ins, and #6 in the state in population numerical increase.
Here is the table of data released by the Census Bureau:
