Grant County population continues growth: slowly

Moses Lake population expands to 16,340 people

GRANT COUNTY — Drivers may soon notice a new number on the signs when pulling into the county's largest city. Replacing the 16,110 that has graced city signs for the last year will soon be a population sign reading 16,340.

That 1.4 percent increase represents a trend throughout Grant County, which is seeing a slower growth trend than it did a decade ago. Grant County as a whole saw 800 new people move within its borders in the last year, a 1.02 percent increase to 79,100 residents.

But local officials are seeing a stronger population surge in the area than they feel is being represented by the estimate. The state Office of Financial Management puts out the estimates every year as a means to allocate certain revenues to each municipality. Moses Lake City Manager Joe Gavinski feels the numbers are a bit light.

"We think the population has grown at a rate greater than the estimate shows," he said.

The numbers are estimates, and Gavinski said the city won't know its exact population until the next census in 2010. But based upon building permits and housing starts with in city limits, Gavinski said Moses Lake officials feel the growth is a bit more than state officials have predicted.

And population growth is desirable for Gavinski. He said that with population growth, "you always assume that there is job growth."

Terry Brewer agrees. Brewer is the executive director of the Grant County Economic Development Council, and said he has seen a great deal of new home construction in Grant County over the last year.

"It's a little surprising to see that 800 number," Brewer said of the overall county's population increase, "we've felt growth has been steady for the last two to three years."

That influx has not been as dramatic as it was in the middle part of the 1990s, but Brewer said his office has seen the signs of it picking up again.

"Population growth is required in my opinion," Brewer said, "if you want to have a growing economy. It takes a little bit of growth to sustain a growing economy."

While the city has seen a population swell of approximately 1,500 people in the last five years, that growth is not as swift as other cities. The city's rank had dropped from number 48 to 52 on the list of largest Washington Cities from 2000 to 2005.

Theresa Lowe, a demographer with the OFM, said migration within the state often has to do with jobs and is relative to job opportunities. Much of Grant County's population surge took place in the 1990s, seeing smaller increases in the last five years. Grant County ranks fifth in percent of change of population over the last decade, but OFM officials admit that growth has slowed over the last half of that period. County populations have grown just below 6 percent in the last five years, compared to an approximately 14 percent increase from 1995 to 2000.

The growth in Moses Lake isn't the heaviest in Grant County. The large un-incorporated portions of the county saw the greatest number increase, adding 420 people to a population of 37,660. Estimates also indicate that Ephrata remains Grant County's second largest city, with a population bump of 40 to 6,930. Grant County as a whole increased by 800 people to an estimate of 79,100 in 2005, or 1.02 percent.

Grant County relies on the numbers for their population estimates from year to year, and Commission Chair LeRoy Allison said the numbers are very important when the state is allocating dollars on a per capita basis.