SEATTLE — Turns out, even a pandemic can’t keep Seattle down for long.
Data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows the boom times aren’t over just yet: Seattle just reclaimed its title as the fastest-growing big city in the U.S.
From July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2022, Seattle had a net gain of about 17,750 people, bringing the total population to 749,000. The city’s growth rate for the year pencils out to 2.4%, easily the fastest among the 50 largest U.S. cities. The rate of growth is quite comparable to what we saw in the 2010s.
This news may come as a surprise to some Seattleites. The Emerald City was hit hard by the pandemic, like many of the nation’s biggest cities. Last year, I wrote that Seattle had a net loss of about 4,300 people from 2020 to 2021, according census data. That figure actually underestimated the decline. The Census Bureau has since revised the number to a loss of about 9,000, which makes the strong growth from 2021 to 2022 all the more remarkable.
Also remarkable: All the fastest-growing big cities last year, with the exception of Seattle, were located in the Sunbelt. Fort Worth, Texas, was No. 2, with 2% growth. Charlotte, N.C.; Miami; and Jacksonville, Fla.; rounded out the top five. In fact, after Seattle, the next 15 fastest-growing big cities were all in the Sunbelt.