Snohomish County is the fastest-growing county by percentage in the Puget Sound region, according to a Puget Sound Regional Council report released Wednesday.
The report also found that between April 2005 and April 2006, the entire four-county area experienced its largest one-year population gain in 15 years.
The growth is being felt everywhere – from clogged streets to rising house prices and more businesses.
“Snohomish County is issuing record numbers of housing permits,” said Mike Pattison, Snohomish County manager for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.
“Beyond that, there are thousands more in the pipeline. So we’re not expecting to see a slowdown in the current rate of growth. We expect it to continue and outpace the rest of the region.”
Since 2000, Snohomish County’s population has grown by 10.85 percent – faster than in King, Pierce and Kitsap counties.
From April 2005 to April 2006, the county grew by 16,000 residents, or 2.4 percent.
While the county leads the region in terms of population growth by percentage, it trails King and Pierce counties in the actual number of new residents. King County grew by 27,000 people from April 2005 to April 2006 and Pierce County grew by 17,600.
Jobs appear to the main impetus for the Snohomish County migration, said Mark Simonson, principal planner for the Puget Sound Regional Council.
The county experienced the highest employment growth rate in the Puget Sound region from March 2005 to March 2006, accounting for 11,000 of the region’s 56,000 new jobs.
“That’s the driver right now: the recovery and rebound from the recession we experienced in the early part of the decade,” Simonson said.
The increasing population is having a definite impact on county government.
The county’s tax base is growing, but so are demands for improved transportation, more parks and new roads. The county is trying to plan ahead so the quality of life doesn’t decrease as population increases, County Executive Aaron Reardon said.
“We have a growing job base,” he said. “We have a high quality of life. We have good schools. So that adds up to making this the most desirable place for people to want to move to.
“What those numbers also demonstrate is that people who grew up in the county and have gone on to college and worked elsewhere are now coming back to the community where they were raised. We’re seeing more and more people return home.”
Five of the region’s fastest-growing cities are in Snohomish County. Only Seattle had greater population growth than Everett from 2000 to 2006. Marysville and Mill Creek also made the top 10 list for greatest growth.
Lake Stevens, Mill Creek and Sultan made the Puget Sound Regional Council’s list of cities with the greatest percentage of population growth from 2000 to 2006.
Both an influx of new residents and annexation account for municipal growth.
Annexation is responsible for more than half the growth in Mill Creek and Lake Stevens. Almost half the growth in Everett and Marysville is the result of annexations, though none of the growth in Sultan is. Residential development is growing fastest in northern Snohomish County, Pattison said.
“People simply can’t afford housing in King County and parts of southern Snohomish County,” he said. “So they’re forced to drive until they qualify, and that’s leading to the demand in north Snohomish County.”
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@ heraldnet.com.
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