Inside INdiana Business is reporting the town manager of Whitestown says he is not surprised the town is the fastest-growing community in Indiana for the seventh consecutive year. The Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business says the Boone County town’s population grew 7.6 percent last year. In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Dax Norton said the commercial, industrial and retail sectors are driving the continued growth in population.
Using estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, the IBRC says Whitestown’s population has more than doubled over the last seven years from 3,151 in 2010 to 8,179 in 2017. Norton says the town’s location near Interstate 65 is important but another major factor in the town’s growth is the fact that officials have planned ahead to meet it head on.
“The ease of access from a traffic perspective is very good. Our utilities are in very good shape for growth and I think people see that,” said Norton. “That makes it very comfortable for, especially the industrial side, commercial side and retail side to make a choice to be here and that, in turn, I think also helps with the residential development because it’s not really going to be overcrowded from a traffic perspective and you won’t feel that congestion because we’re kind of ahead of the game from an infrastructure perspective.”
Norton says Whitestown’s proximity to Indianapolis, Lafayette, Carmel and Westfield gives it more of an advantage when it comes to attracting more people than more rural communities throughout the state. However, he says town leaders have recognized that there has to be a population number where it starts to get overwhelming. He says having a good mix of residential, industrial, commercial and retail space could cap the population at a “sustainable max” of about 25,000.
“Our engineers estimate that by the year 2020, we’ll have 12,000. By the year 2025, we’ll likely be at 20 (thousand) and by the year 2030, it’s likely where we hit that peak,” said Norton. “We’ve also got to be prepared for the leveling off and then go into maintenance mode which I think that we understand that’s coming and I think we’re prepared for that as well.”
The IBRC says Westfield is the second fastest-growing city with a 5.3 percent population increase in 2017, followed by McCordsville at 4.9 percent and Plainfield at 4.6 percent.
Indianapolis remains the largest city in the state with 863,002 residents, making it the 16th-largest city in the U.S. last year. Fort Wayne continues as the second-largest city at nearly 266,000 people, followed by Evansville at 118,930 and South Bend at 102,245.