There is a little less elbow room in Elkhart County this year, as the latest U.S. Census population projections indicate an increase of 6,222 people since 2010.
This story by Lois Tomaszewski originally appeared in The Elkhart Truth.
According to the data, Elkhart County’s population totals 203,781 as of July 2017. For the 2010 census, the population totaled 197,559. That’s an increase of about three percent, or 888 people per year for the last seven years.
Goshen had the highest percentage of population change since 2010. Goshen’s population is estimated at 33,034, an increase of 2.9 percent since 2010. Then the population totaled 31,719.
Next highest in percentage increase is Nappanee, whose population is estimated to have grown by 132 residents. Its population growth is 1.7 percent.
Elkhart estimated population is 52,221 as of July. In 2010, the population was 50,949. Data indicates Elkhart grew by 1.2 percent for a total of 1,272 people.
Indiana had a population increase of 2.8 percent. The state’s current population estimate is 6,666,818. In 2010, the count was 6,483,802.
Among all 50 states, Idaho is the state with the highest percentage of growth in the last year, according to the U.S. Census bureau.
Following Idaho for the largest percentage increases in population were: Nevada (2.0 percent), Utah (1.9 percent), Washington (1.7 percent), and Florida along with Arizona (1.6 percent). Indiana was under 1 percent change in the last year.
Eight states lost population between July 1, 2016, and July 1, 2017. Illinois had the largest numeric decline, losing 33,703 people (this was a relatively small percentage change compared to its population of 12.8 million). Wyoming had the largest percentage decline (1.0 percent). Three states that had been losing population in the previous year, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Vermont, saw slight increases.
