Q-C population picks up slightly

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By Ed Tibbetts | Thursday, March 27, 2008 | No comments posted

The Quad-Cities’ population grew at a faster rate between mid-2006 and mid-2007 than it did the previous 12 months, new government data says.

But the metropolitan region still lags behind areas of comparable size in Iowa and Illinois.

The Census Bureau is releasing figures today that estimate the four-county area’s population at 376,160 as of July 1, 2007, an uptick of 1,886 people. The previous year, the area’s population grew by 895 people, the estimates said.

The year’s growth, while relatively small, did lift the Quad-Cities to just above its 2000 population of 376,052. The early part of the decade saw declines in the annual population estimates.

As the government reported last week, stronger estimated growth in Rock Island County than in previous years contributed to boosting the area’s numbers.

The Quad-City metropolitan statistical area is made up of Scott, Rock Island, Henry and Mercer counties.

The Quad-Cities continues to struggle to gain population, however. Its growth rate between 2006 and 2007 places it 231st out of the 363 metro areas in the United States.

Overall, the Quad-Cities is the 131st largest population center.

Des Moines, Rockford and Cedar Rapids — other similarly-sized metro areas in Iowa and Illinois — continue to grow more rapidly.

Des Moines grew by 2 percent between 2006 and 2007 and 13.5 percent since 2000. Rockford grew by 2 percent and 10 percent in the same periods. Cedar Rapids grew by 1.3 percent

and 6.6 percent.

The Peoria area grew only slightly faster than the Quad-Cities between 2006 and 2007, while the Waterloo and Springfield metro areas grew more slowly, the estimates said. Sioux City’s growth rate was the same as here.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at

(563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.

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