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State Data Center: Chester County Leads Population Growth; Pike Leads State in Percent Change

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 June 2005, 15:00 CDT

The Pennsylvania State Data Center at Penn State Harrisburg reports that Chester County ranked 72nd nationally in numerical population increase from July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2004.

Chester County increased from 458,057 persons in 2003 to 465,795 persons in 2004, an increase of 7,738, or 1.7 percent. No other Pennsylvania county ranked in the top 100 in numeric or percent increase in population from 2003 to 2004.

This data is based on the 2004 County Population Estimates that were released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. These estimates used April 1, 2000 as a base and were carried forward to July 1, 2004, based on birth, death and migration data.

Pennsylvania's estimated population of 12,406,292 continues to rank the commonwealth sixth in the nation in total population.

Births, Deaths and Migrations in the Commonwealth

There were an estimated 146,368 births in Pennsylvania between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004. An estimated 130,322 deaths during this time period resulted in a natural increase of 16,046 persons. There were 19,960 net international migrants into Pennsylvania and 772 net domestic out-migrants, resulting in an increase of 19,188 persons between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004.

Philadelphia had the highest birth rate based on births between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004 (15-3), significantly higher than Pennsylvania's birth rate (11.8). Juniata County, with an estimated population of 23,391 (July 1, 2004) had the second highest birth rate in Pennsylvania at 15.0. Lancaster County followed Juniata at 14.3, and Mifflin County, which borders Juniata County, had the next highest birth rate at 13.5. Pike County, which had the highest estimated population percentage increase between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004, had the lowest birth rate in Pennsylvania at 7.6.

Sullivan County had the highest death rate based on deaths between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004 (20.4), nearly twice Pennsylvania's death rate of 10.5, and nearly 4.0 more than Forest County, the next highest (16.0). Schuylkill County's death rate was next highest at 14.2 and the fourth highest county was Luzerne, with a death rate of 14.0. The lowest death rate was in Centre County (6.1). Birth and death rates are based on the number of births and deaths per thousand of the total county population.

Numeric Population Change

Chester County (7,738 pop. increase) had the largest estimated gain in population between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004 (Table 1). York County (6,019 pop. increase), Berks County (4,964 pop. increase) and Northampton County (4,468 pop. increase) represented the next largest estimated population increases; during this time period. Allegheny County (8,309 pop. decrease) had the largest estimated population decrease.

Percent Population Change

Pike County, which borders New York and New Jersey, had its population increase an estimated 3.6 percent between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004. Monroe County (2.8 percent pop. increase) and Adams County (2.0 percent pop. increase) represented the next largest estimated population percentage increases in Pennsylvania during this time period. Adams County is on the southern border of Pennsylvania, just north of Maryland.

Cameron County (2.1 percent pop. decrease), one of the least populated counties in the Commonwealth, had the largest estimated population decrease.

Several Pennsylvania counties experienced state ranking changes in terms of total population between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004: Erie County decreased from 13th to 14th; Huntingdon County increased from 48th to 47th; Jefferson County dropped from 47th to 48th; Northampton increased from 14th to 13th-Warren County dropped from 51st to 52nd; Union County increased from 52nd to 51st.

Lackawanna County ranked 61 out of 67 in terms of population growth. Luzerne County ranked 64 out of 67. Other northeastern Pennsylvania counties and their ranks: Columbia ranked 26 out of 67; Schuylkill ranked 53 out of 67; Susquehanna ranked 28 and Wayne ranked 20 out of 67 in terms of population growth.

Copyright Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal May 01, 2005

Source: Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal

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