Seattle's Population Growth Outpaced Other Major Cities Last Year

SEATTLE — Seattle saw its population grow more than any other major U.S. city between 2019 and 2020, and Kirkland's rate was even higher, according to an analysis by the Seattle Times. Columnist Gene Balk crunched the numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau and found Seattle added 16,400 residents between July 2019 and July 2020, a growth rate of 2.2 percent, narrowly beating Fort Worth, Texas for the top spot.

Among cities with 60,000 people or more, Kirkland was the only one in Washington to outpace Seattle, growing by 2.6 percent over the same timeframe, the newspaper found. By comparison, New York, San Jose and San Francisco ranked near the bottom of America's 50 largest cities, each shedding more than 1 percent of their population.

The Times noted the Census report did not break down whether people were moving in from other parts of the state or from outside Washington, and it does not reflect any change in the pattern that may have occurred after July 1, 2020.

In April, the Census Bureau released its data for the last decade, finding that Washington added more than 1 million residents between 2010 and 2020, totaling a growth rate of 14.6 percent, and landing in the top five nationally.

Read more in the Seattle Times.