Feeling more crowded in Gig Harbor or Tacoma? Growth numbers agree

Several Pierce County communities landed on a list of top-growing cities in the Puget Sound region.

Last year, the population of four central Puget Sound counties grew by 86,000. Ten cities absorbed two thirds of that growth, according to the Puget Sound Regional Council.

By the end of 2016, Gig Harbor had 6 percent more residents than the year before, according to data compiled by the Puget Sound Regional Council. That’s 510 more residents, according to the report, which uses information from the state Office of Financial Management.

It included comparisons from cities in four counties: Pierce, King, Kitsap and Snohomish. It compared population numbers in 2015 with 2016.

Tacoma attracted the most new residents of any city in Pierce County. Last year, the city gained 3,800 more people, bringing the city’s population to around 206,100 residents. That’s a growth rate of nearly 2 percent, the regional council’s report said.

Auburn, which straddles the King-Pierce county line, gained 1,515 more residents, bringing the population to 77,060, according to the regional council.

In Milton, 310 more people moved there last year, a population increase of 4.2 percent, bringing the city’s total residents to 7,695 people.

Seattle gained the most residents last year, at 24,400 people, a 3.7 percent change compared with 2015. The Emerald City’s population came to around 686,800 people last year.

Other Pierce County cities included in the report are Fife with 365 more residents and Orting with 245 more people.

More jobs are being created in the region as well, with more than four in five new jobs created in King and Snohomish counties, the regional council says. The vast majority of those new jobs are in the service sector at 34,800 new jobs in February compared with the same month last year.

Workers in the manufacturing sector lost 7,000 jobs February compared with last year, the regional council reported.

The number of people moving to the region also has eclipsed the number of housing units being built every year, the regional council’s data show.

This story was originally published May 1, 2017 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Feeling more crowded in Gig Harbor or Tacoma? Growth numbers agree."