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Highlands County Population Growth Continues

By MARC VALERO

Highlands Today

Published: March 23, 2009

SEBRING - Highlands County's population grew by 1 percent in a year, which surpassed the statewide average of 0.7 percent, according to the latest U.S. Census estimates.

The county's population increased by 991 (99,020 to 100,011) from July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008, according to census estimates.

More people moved out of Florida than moved in, for a net domestic migration loss of 9,286 residents.
Highlands County is bucking that trend with a net increase of 1,212 due to domestic movement, said Robert Bernstein, spokesman for the U.S. Census Bureau.

Noting its large number of senior citizens, Highlands County had a natural decrease (435) in population - more deaths than births - he said, which does not follow the statewide trend of more births than deaths.

Florida's growth (128,814) for the one-year survey period can be primarily attributed to births and foreign immigrants.

From 2000 to 2008, Highlands County's population grew by 14.5 percent (12,645).

In the same eight-year period, Florida grew by 14.7 percent (2.3 million) to the latest total estimate of 18,328,340.
Census data highlights include:

•Between April 1, 2000, and July 1, 2008, the fastest-growing metro area was Palm Coast, Fla., in Flagler County.

• As of July 1, 2008, the nation's 363 metro areas contained 254.2 million people - 83.6 percent of the total population.

• Four metro areas grew by more than 100,000 people from 2007 to 2008: Dallas-Fort Worth (147,000), Houston (130,000), Phoenix (116,000) and Atlanta (115,000).

• The most populous metro areas on July 1, 2008, were New York (19 million), Los Angeles (12.9 million) and Chicago (9.6 million).

• Among counties with 10,000 or more people, 94 of the 100 with the fastest population growth from 2007 to 2008 were in the South (71 counties) or the West (23 counties).

Highlands Today reporter Marc Valero can be reached at 386-5826 or mvalero@highlandstoday.com

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