Iowa official doubts new census estimates - 15-month period: Report says 16,609 people migrated to other states

Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Telegraph Herald
April 30, 2002

DES MOINES - State officials question whether the migration from Iowa's rural counties is as high as suggested in estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The county estimates show that 71 of Iowa's 99 counties lost population between April 2000 and July 2001.

The new set of numbers also shows that Iowa was one of only four states to lose population during the 15-month period. The other three were North Dakota, West Virginia and Louisiana.

Willis Goudy, coordinator of Iowa State University's Census Services, said the estimates should be taken "with a huge grain of salt," because they are devised by using mathematics applied to birth and death numbers in addition to figures provided to the Census Bureau by the IRS.

The report released Monday shows Iowa lost 16,609 people to other states during the period, significantly higher than estimates for previous years.

Meanwhile, the fastest-growing county in the U.S. is Douglas County, Colo., located near Denver, which grew 13.6 percent over a 15-month period. The other eight counties growing faster than 10 percent are located in the Southeast and in the South.

In Wisconsin, Waukesha County had the biggest population gain of Wisconsin counties at 6,298 to 367,065, while Milwaukee County lost 8,152 and fell to 932,012.

Milwaukee County was the only Wisconsin county to show a population decline between 1990 and 2000.

Migration for Eastern Iowa counties

The following table reflects the population changes for Eastern Iowa counties from the April 2000 U.S. Census figures to the estimated population results in July 2001 released Monday.

County Est. pop. Census Change Pct (%)

July 2001 April 2000 in pop. change

Allamakee 14,426 14,675-249-1.7

Clayton 18,539 18,678 -139-0.7

Dubuque88,856 89,143 -287-0.3

Fayette21,822 22,008 -186-0.8

Jackson20,207 20,296 -89-0.4

Jones20,065 20,221 -156-0.8

Winneshiek21,423 21,310 113 0.5

Iowa 2,923,179 2,926,324 -3,145 -0.1

Source: U.S. Census Bureau