Kootenai County adds 5,221 residents

Kootenai County added 5,221 new residents last year, mainly due to people moving to the area.

The county’s population grew by 4 percent, reaching 127,668, according to the 2005 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Births represented just a fraction of the gain. Most of the county’s population gain – 4,741 people – came from net migration.

The trend mirrors conditions statewide. Almost two-thirds of the Idaho’s population growth came from people moving here. About one-third of the state’s growth came from births exceeding the number of deaths.

Idaho’s population grew by 2.4 percent last year, making it the third fastest growing state in the nation, behind Nevada and Arizona.

Most of Idaho’s growth was concentrated in the state’s six largest counties. Shoshone County was one of the rural counties that lost population. The number of Shoshone County residents dropped from 13,157 to 12,882, according to census estimates.