New numbers in Sioux Falls show the city is growing on pace with recent years. Leaders estimate that more than 2,000 new people call Sioux Falls home compared to one year ago. City planners consider building permits and recent census data to assess the trend.
Sioux Falls’ average population growth over the last decade shows 2,371 people move to the city each year. The latest local number shows a slightly slower increase in population since July of 2013. The new total indicates Sioux Falls has 166,700 current residents.
Jeff Schmitt is the chief of planning and zoning for Sioux Falls. He says the numbers are right on track with historic growth.
"When you have a three-year trend at 1.61 percent increase and a 10-year trend at 1.64, you can’t get much closer than that," Schmitt says." And even our 30-year trend going back from this point 30 years at two percent, it’s pretty easy to project forward."
Schmitt says this month’s number is intentionally conservative, so the actual population could be higher than the estimate.
Director of Planning and Building Services Mike Cooper says the population number counts only people who live in Sioux Falls. That means it doesn’t include an estimated 35,000 people who call neighboring towns home but work or shop in Sioux Falls every day.
Sioux Falls leaders say their city is responsible for most of the state’s population growth. Schmitt says the metropolitan statistical area for Sioux Falls includes five counties that area is growing faster than any other part of South Dakota.
"We’re taking up a majority of that increase – not only the city of Sioux Falls but that MSA. And you’ve got to think about what’s happening in Hartford and Tea and Harrisburg and Brandon. That growth in this part of the state is the majority of the growth," Schmitt says.
Schmitt says the other major center of population growth in South Dakota is across the state in Pennington County.