State population keeps shifting

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Islands Editor

The state's population continues to slowly shift away from urban Honolulu, according to Census Bureau data released today.

The agency estimated that from July 2003 to July 2004, the city added only 846 residents, compared with 5,389 for the rest of O'ahu and 7,850 on the Neighbor Islands. Since 2000, urban Honolulu's population has grown by an estimated 5,603, while the rest of the island, where most of the new housing has been built, has seen an increase of 17,834 residents.

Leroy Laney, professor of economics and finance at Hawai'i Pacific University, said higher population growth rates outside urban Honolulu are not surprising and continue a longstanding trend. "It's what we might expect to continue for some time, given the smaller population base on the Neighbor Islands, where there's more room to expand."

The city's growth rate of 0.2 percent from July 2003 to July 2004 ranked 135th out of 251 U.S. cities with populations over 100,000.

Port St. Lucie, Fla., had the nation's fastest growth rate among large cities: a whopping 12 percent in one year. Two other Florida cities made the top 10 list — Cape Coral and Miramar — while California held four spots with Elk Grove, Moreno Valley, Rancho Cucamonga and Roseville. Arizona had two in the top 10, Gilbert and Chandler. North Las Vegas, Nev., a popular spot for emigrants from Hawai'i, held the third spot.

Honolulu was the 47th-most- populous city in the United States, with an estimated 377,260 residents, but was nowhere near New York City, the nation's most populous city, with 8.1 million residents — twice the population of second-ranked Los Angeles.

Statewide,Hawai'i's population grew to 1.26 million in July 2004, the Census Bureau said, an increase of 51,303 people — or 4.2 percent — from the 2000 count. Population growth from July 2003 to July 2004 was estimated at 14,085, an increase of 1.1 percent.

O'ahu is still where nearly three-fourths of the state's population lives, but its share of residents is dwindling: from 72.3 percent in 2000 to 71.2 percent in July 2004. Nearly 13 percent of Hawai'i's people were estimated to be living on the Big Island in July 2004, 11 percent in Maui County, and almost 5 percent on Kaua'i.

O'ahu had the lowest rate of population growth from April 2000 to July 2004, and Hawai'i County had the highest.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.

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