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Brief
Gem State Roundup
Idaho’s urban areas are booming. One city’s population grew 7.5% last year.
About 10% more of Idaho’s residents live in the state’s urban areas than they did in 1980, according to the Idaho Department of Labor, and that trend of population growth is continuing.

The state had the fastest growing population in the nation at 2.1% between 2019 and 2020, with much of that growth concentrated in urban areas.
Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, of cities with populations larger than 10,000, eight of the 200 fastest-growing cities in the country are in Idaho. The eight cities have growth rates ranging from 3.5% to 7.5%.
Idaho’s eight cities with populations of more than 50,000 grew 2.3% between 2019 and 2020, while Idaho’s 177 smallest cities (with populations below 10,000) grew slower at 1.7%.

The 15 medium-sized cities grew fastest at 2.9%. Blackfoot (-0.1%) and Garden City (-0.5%) were the only medium-sized cities to experience population loss between 2019 and 2020.
Thirty-two of the state’s smaller cities saw declines, but none with population losses greater than 1.4%.
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