Smith County Makes Big Gains

From Staff, Wire Reports

Smith County saw a population increase from 190,501 to 194,635 from July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006, a one-year increase of 2.2 percent, accodring to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Thursday."Our growing population is a positive result of the planning and vision of caring members of our community, both past and present," County Judge Joel Baker said. "Smith County provides many opportunities for its citizens, and it is a great place for people to live, work and raise their families."But growth brings challenges, he added."With these positive changes come an increased demand for services and infrastructure and challenges to find the necessary funding," Baker said. "I am confident that we will all work together to find solutions to meet the needs of a thriving community."Tyler Mayor Joey Seeber said the news comes as no surprise."This confirms what we've known for some time, that we're seeing an increased demand for city services," he said. "It's also an indication the city and county are growing at a rate greater than we did in the last decade."That's why the city is currently engaged in the Tyler 21 long-range planning process."We recognize our city is growing and growing faster, and we need to be prepared for the growth we expect to continue in the next 20 and 30 years," Seeber said.Some Texas counties were among the fastest-growing in the report, which showed that the pace of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina has slowed, leaving New Orleans and some other Gulf Coast areas with less than half the people they had before the storm. And some of the hardest hit might never regain their population, experts say.The latest Census Bureau estimates say that 10 months after the hurricane, Orleans Parish in Louisiana had slightly less than half the people it did before the storm. Nearby St. Bernard Parish had less than a fourth of its pre-storm population.The estimates were for July 1, 2006, but experts said few people have moved back since then."We're still doing cleanup but not bringing many housing units on line," said Greg Rigamer, a demographer in New Orleans. "We are in the process of rehabbing a lot of properties. It takes time to do that."Other Gulf Coast communities, meanwhile, have grown as hurricane victims fled to nearby cities and Americans continued a decades-long migration to coastal areas, according the new Census Bureau estimates.Harris County, home to Houston, added more than 123,000 people from 2005 to 2006. Houston attracted many Katrina refugees.The Census Bureau estimates annual county population totals as of July 1, using local records of births and deaths, IRS records of people moving within the United States and census statistics on immigrants.Smith County's growth has been steady, adding 3,000 to 4,000 or so each year since 2000, the bureau's tables show. In 2000, Smith County had a population of 175,453. Over the next six years, the population growth totaled 19,182 new residents, or an increase of 10.9 percent.Rigamer said the Census estimates for the New Orleans area were consistent with his research.Among the bureau's findings:
Of the five U.S. counties that lost the most people from 2005 to 2006, four were hit by Hurricane Katrina. The biggest decrease was in Orleans Parish, where the population dropped by nearly 229,000, to about 223,400. The others were St. Bernard Parish, La.; Harrison County, Miss., and Jefferson Parish, La.Wayne County, Mich., rounded out the top five in population loss. The county, which includes Detroit, has been hit by layoffs in the automotive industry.
Maricopa County, Ariz., home to Phoenix, added the most people from 2005 to 2006. The county added nearly 130,000, to about 3.8 million. It was followed by Harris County, Texas; Riverside County, Calif.; Clark County, Nev., and Tarrant County, Texas.
Chattahoochee County, Ga., had the highest percentage growth from 2005 to 2006, at 13.2 percent, to just over 14,000 people.
St. Bernard Parish had the biggest percentage decline from 2005 to 2006, losing 76.2 percent of its population, to about 15,500.University of New Orleans political scientist Susan Howell said a lot of people are moving in and out of New Orleans even as the overall population number has stabilized.Howell surveyed city residents last fall and found that about a third were considering leaving the city in the next two years. She said the biggest reasons were crime, the slow pace of recovery and concerns about flooding."The full population will not come back," Howell said. "But it will certainly, at some point, stabilize. The question is, will it stabilize at a point where people will have a good quality of life?"Al Palumbo, branch manager for a New Orleans real estate agency, said it is a buyer's market in many of the neighborhoods that were hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina.He said there are many opportunities for young people to move into areas where they could not afford to live before the storm."I think this is going to be a younger town," Palumbo said.