EVERETT – There are 850 of them.
Exactly who they are, or where they came from, is still unknown, but one thing’s for sure – Everett has counted them as new residents.
Crews this week updated 24 “Entering Everett” signs around the city with new population figures.
The new sticker says “96,840.”
The old sticker, from 2001, said “95,990.”
Although there are only 850 new residents, Everett has had the sixth-highest growth rate out of the state’s 281 cities since the U.S. Census in 2000.
City spokeswoman Kate Reardon can only speculate on the newest 850 people. “I think that they heard about Everett and loved its quality of life so much that they came from all around the world to live in the best city in the USA,” she said.
John and Heather Ormsby and their two young sons moved to Everett a little more than a year ago from Bellingham. John Ormsby works in Burlington, but the family wanted to be closer to Seattle.
Everett’s housing prices swayed them, but they also were sold on the new Everett Events Center and the city’s new Silvertips team.
“We knew that the team was coming,” Heather Ormsby said. “We’re hockey fans, and the kids go skating over there. It’s kind of a hangout for us.”
The couple said they also liked Everett’s planned redevelopment, both downtown and on the waterfront.
“We figured it was a place that was going to grow into something more than it was when we started looking,” she said. “We were looking at the prospective future of the town.”
After the Ormsby family, that leaves only 846 new neighbors to meet.
John Diaz, owner of American Dream Real Estate on Evergreen Way, meets more new residents than most. He’s been selling homes in Everett since 1990.
“This is probably the busiest year we’ve had since we’ve been here,” Diaz said. “When interest rates started to creep up, people jumped. Even renters.”
He estimated that 90 percent of his deals are with people already living here, and 10 percent come from out of state.
Everett, he said, is not a hard sell.
“I think Everett is one of the best cities in Washington, as far as schools, housing, services” and transportation go, Diaz said. “There’s lots of things to do, really. It’s an All-American city, and I think they definitely earned every bit of that.”
New homes are going up as well.
Reardon said through July this year the city issued 103 permits for new single-family homes. The total for last year was 221 new-home permits.
Everett’s growth also may be credited in part to annexations; since 2000, it has expanded its city limits to include 3,069 more residents. Annexation growth is second in the state only to Yakima, which annexed 7,513 new residents.
Though 96,840 is noted as Everett’s new population, that number is a guess. Or, some would say, an interpretation.
“Everybody’s trying to do the best job possible,” said Theresa Lowe, a demographer with the state Office of Financial Management.
Cities provide the agency with much of the information it uses to forecast a population. It’s a delicate process because of what’s at stake – state funding.
“They’re concerned about the accuracy of the city number,” Lowe said. “We’re concerned about accuracy and trying to do a fair job for all of the localities involved.”
Right now, Everett receives $31.26 a year per resident from state gas and liquor taxes. The population also affects how much a city receives for criminal justice.
Cities that lose population also lose money.
For Burien, Shoreline and SeaTac, which have all lost residents since 2000, it must be a different kind of sticker shock.
Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@ heraldnet.com.
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