One Eastside City Grew, While Others In Puget Sound Shrank Last Year

REDMOND, WA — Redmond added nearly 3,000 new neighbors between July 2020 and July 2021, while Seattle and other cities around the region lost some of their population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The agency on Thursday released its latest population estimates for cities and towns across the United States, finding that nation's fastest-growing areas were largely in the West and the South last summer. However, many of America's most populous cities shed residents over the same timeframe, led by places like San Francisco (-6.3%) and New York City (-3.5%). Exceptions include San Antonio and Phoenix, which each gained more than 13,000 residents.

For Seattle, the drop was less dramatic, with the city losing an estimated 4,253 — or 0.6 percent — of its residents. Population figures in a handful of South King County cities shrank between 1 and 2 percent. As The Seattle Times reports, even a small loss is highly unusual for the Emerald City, which has not seen a population decline since the early 2000s and spent years among the fastest-growing cities in the nation.

A Census report released in March found King County shrank by roughly 1 percent, while Snohomish and Pierce counties posted modest gains. This month, Zillow found suburban communities increasingly account for the nation's most popular housing markets, including Edmonds and Woodinville, which landed in the top five for demand.

Despite the population declines recorded in many major metros last year, the Census Bureau noted the top 15 list of most populated cities remained unchanged last year, and Seattle stayed the nation's 18th-largest.

On the growth side, Redmond led Washington in adding residents last year, recording the only such gain around Seattle and the Eastside. By contrast, neighboring Bellevue shrank by about 1.6 percent, with its population dipping just below 150,000. In second place for growth was Spokane Valley, followed by Richland.

The Census's latest report only covers through July 2021 and does not account for any changes since then, including the potential impact of more employers transitioning away from fully-remote work plans this year.

Here are the estimated population changes for Washington cities with at least 50,000 residents (from July 2020 to July 2021):

Gained population:

Redmond: +4% (gained 2,932 residents). New total: 73,422.
Spokane Valley: +2% (gained 2,127 residents). New total: 105,905.
Richland: +1.9% (gained 1,131 residents). New total: 61,929.
Pasco: +1.3% (gained 1,015 residents). New total: 78,871.
Lacey: +1.2% (gained 633 residents). New total: 54,461.
Bellingham: +0.8% (gained 719 residents). New total: 92,289.
Kennewick: +0.7% (gained 566 residents). New total: 84,488.
Vancouver: +0.6% (gained 1,098 residents) New total: 192,169.
Olympia: +0.5% (gained 293 residents). New total: 55,919.
Marysville: +0.4% (gained 250 residents). New total: 71,144.
Spokane: +0.1% (gained 221 residents). New total: 229,071.

Lost population:

Federal Way: -2% (lost 1,982 residents). New total: 99,037.
Burien: -1.8% (lost 931 residents). New total: 51,073.
Auburn: -1.7% (lost 1,444 residents). New total: 85,699.
Bellevue: -1.6% (lost 2,399 residents). New total: 149,440.
Renton: -1.5% (lost 1,584 residents). New total: 105,179.
Sammamish: -1.3% (lost 904 residents). New total: 66,630.
Shoreline: -1.3% (lost 781 residents). New total: 57,918.
Kent: -1.3% (lost 1,793 residents). New total: 134,835.
Kirkland: -0.7% (lost 648 residents). New total: 92,107.
Seattle: -0.6% (lost 4,253 residents). New total: 733,919.
Lakewood: -0.5% (lost 288 residents). New total: 63,331.
Yakima: -0.3% (lost 312 residents). New total: 96,578.
Everett: -0.1% (lost 118 residents). New total: 110,812.
Tacoma: -0.1% (lost 178 residents). New total: 219,205.

The next round of population figures from the Census is due by the end of June.