Linn, Johnson counties among fastest growing counties in Iowa

Linn and Johnson counties are among the fastest growing counties in the state, but fall behind one in central Iowa that holds part of the Des Moines metropolitan area, new Census Bureau population estimates show.

Both counties also saw their populations grow more quickly than that of the state and the nation. Between July 2010 and July 2017, Linn County's population increased by about 5.9 percent, to 224,115 people, while Johnson County's grew by 13.7 percent, to 149,210 people, according to Census estimates.

Iowa's population, meanwhile, only grew at about a three percent rate while the nation's grew by 5.3 percent.

Even so, growth in Linn and Johnson pales compared to that of Dallas County, which is a part of the Des Moines metro area and contains portions of the fast growing city of Waukee.

Dallas County, with a 30.7 percent growth rate, was the fastest growing in Iowa and the fifth fastest-growing county in the country between July 2010 and 2017.

Dallas County's ranking fits as the Des Moines metro attracts increasingly more people. That metro is the fastest growing in Iowa so far this decade, followed by the Iowa City metro area.

Iowa's State Data Center also noted Thursday that more than half of all of Iowa's people live in just 10 counties - Polk, Linn, Scott, Johnson, Black Hawk, Woodbury, Story, Dubuque, Pottawattamie and Dallas.

l Comments: (319) 398-8366; matthew.patane@thegazette.com