Idaho Population Growing, But Slower

Idaho’s population growth slowed some between mid-1994 and mid-1995 from the previous 12 months, but the state remained one of the fastest growing in the nation, according to a new Census Bureau report.

The government said on Friday that Idaho picked up another 29,000 people between July 1, 1994, and last July 1 to push total population to 1,163,000.

That is a nearly 2.6 percent increase, just a tenth of a percentage point below the estimate Batt administration analysts made last month and the third highest percentage of all the states. In fact, those analysts estimated that Idaho’s population last summer was 1,163,300.

Although 28 other states saw populations grow by more than 29,000, only two others had percentage growth greater than Idaho’s. Arizona was second nationally at 3.4 percent while Nevada led the nation with 4.6 percent population increase.

But as the economic fortunes of other states continue to improve, the influx of people to Idaho is slowing. Growth between mid-1993 and mid-1994 as nearly 3 percent for the state as 26,000 more people moved into Idaho than left and births continued to outpace deaths by 9,000.

The slower growth has tempered the state’s financial optimism, prompting Gov. Phil Batt and the Republican-dominated Legislature to take a conservative approach to state spending this year.

The lower population growth was also reflected, at least to some extent in the smaller increase than anticipated in general tax revenues over the past year.