Tuesday, Jul. 15, 2008

Olathe outpaces most Midwest cities in growth

Olathe’s growth has outpaced every other city in Kansas and Missouri, and the city continues to be one of the fastest growing in the nation.

The U.S. Census Bureau released a population report last week that placed Olathe 24th on a list of the fastest-growing cities from 2006-07 with populations of more than 100,000.

The population of the second-largest city in Johnson County and fourth largest in the state increased by nearly 3 percent, about 3,400 residents, in that time period to bring the city’s total to just more than 118,000.

Olathe was beaten out of being the fastest-growing city in the Midwest by only two Chicago suburbs. Mayor Mike Copeland said the ranking “continues to reinforce that Olathe is a preferred community.”

“We’ve known for some time now that quality attracts quality,” he said. “It’s true both with regard to our business community but as well as our residential community.”

And with the city also continually providing a variety of quality housing options, Copeland said, families will choose Olathe over other options.

The report also indicated that after having the largest population drop-off since 2000, New Orleans topped this year’s list with a 13.8 percent increase, bringing its population up to 239,000. That’s about half of its pre-Hurricane Katrina population.

Houston added the most new residents with nearly 39,000, but that only amounted to 1.8 percent increase in its overall population, which stands at about 2.2 million.

New York remained the largest city with nearly 8.3 million residents. Los Angeles with more than 3.8 million and Chicago with more than 2.8 million residents rounded out the top three.

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