Inside INdiana Business is reporting that the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business says the state’s total population increased by its highest total since 2009. The IBRC says U.S. Census figures show Indiana added 32,800 residents in 2017, up 0.5 percent from 2016. More than half of the state’s 92 counties registered increases last year in population, a nine-year high.
In 2017, Indiana ranked 17th among all states in total population at 6.67 million residents and was the 25th fastest-growing state last year., with growth outpacing each of its neighboring states. Growth in recent years in Indiana, the IBRC says, still lags gains experienced between 2000 and 2010 when Indiana was adding an average of 40,300 residents a year.
IBRC Senior Demographer Matt Kinghorn says “Indiana’s improved population growth was driven by a significant uptick in migration to the state. After averaging a net in-migration of just 940 residents per year over the previous six years, Indiana had a net inflow of more than 10,400 residents in 2017. While migration is up, the state’s birth rate, which began to decline after the Great Recession, remains low. As a result, Indiana’s natural population increase — which is a measure of the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths — was nearly 30 percent lower last year than the typical mark set between 2000 and 2010.”
The top 10 fastest-growing counties according to the Census Bureau in 2017:
- Boone County, +2.5 percent
- Hamilton County, +2.4 percent
- Hendricks County, +2.1 percent
- Hancock County, +1.6 percent
- Johnson County, +1.6 percent
- Putnam County, +1.2 percent
- Tippecanoe County, +1 percent
- Clark County, +1 percent
- Monroe County, +0.9 percent
- Whitley County, +0.8 percent
Thirty-seven Indiana counties lost population in 2017. The highest decreases were in Ohio County (-1 percent), Blackford County (-0.8 percent), Vermillion County (-0.7 percent), Miami County (-0.6 percent) and Pulaski County (-0.6).
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