St. George No. 1 in U.S.; 2 Utah County cities 6th

The data show that St. George's growth has been largely due to people moving in, said Pam Perlich, senior research economist at the University of Utah. Provo-Orem, in contrast, saw most of its growth through births. So did Salt Lake, where there was a net influx of immigrants but a net domestic outmigration.

"In Washington County there's an over-representing of older age," she said. "In Utah County, there's a over-representing of college age."

She added that some of Utah's fast-growing areas may be seeing more growth than the census numbers indicate, particularly in Provo-Orem and Logan, where the census tends to underestimate the large concentrations of college students.

Despite its fast-paced growth, St. George remains relatively small for a metropolitan area, and its numerical gain of 35,958 is 91st.

And that's just fine, said McArthur, who remembers going to high school in a small town of maybe 6,000.

"We're not seeking to be the fastest-growing community in the nation," he said. "We just want to make sure we take care of the people in St. George."

As of July 1, 2006, the 361 metro areas in the United States contained 249.2 million people — 83.2 percent of the nation's population.

In percentage growth, St. George was followed by Greeley, Colo., which grew by 31 percent to 236,857; Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Calif., which grew by 30 percent to 571,344; Bend, Ore., which saw 29 percent growth to 149,140; and Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., which grew by 29 percent to 1.8 million.

New York was the most populous metro area on July 1, 2006, with 18.8 million people, followed by Los Angeles, with 13 million, and Chicago with 9.5 million.

The Atlanta metro area gained 890,000 residents — the nation's largest numerical gain — bringing it to a 2006 population of 5.1 million.

The outflux following Hurricane Katrina was reflected in the New Orleans metro area experiencing the greatest numeric loss over six years, declining by 292,000 people to 1 million on July 1, 2006. New Orleans also saw the biggest percentage loss of 22.2 percent, followed by coastal Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., which was also hard-hit by Katrina and lost 7.4 percent of its population.

Utah's biggest metro area, Salt Lake, which includes Salt Lake, Tooele and Summit counties, saw the state's greatest population gain — 98,839 or 10 percent — bringing its total population to nearly 1.1 million.

The Ogden-Clearfield metro area, which includes Davis, Morgan and Weber counties, grew by 12.4 percent to 497,640. The state's smallest metro area, Logan — which includes Cache County and Franklin County, Idaho — grew by 8 percent to 111,156.

Most of Utah's micropolitan areas have also grown since 2000. With a six-year growth of 33 percent, Heber (Wasatch County) is the nation's third fastest growing micro area. And Cedar City (Iron County) grew by 20 percent to 40,544, ranking 9th nationally. Brigham City (Box Elder County) grew by 10 percent to 47,197 and Vernal (Uintah County) grew nearly 11 percent to 27,955.

Utah's only micro area that lost population was Price (Carbon County), which has lost nearly 1,000 people since 2000, making its 2006 population 27,955.

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com