Visalia Times-Delta
Saturday, December 11, 2010
By Valerie Gibbons
Tulare County's population grew 1.3 percent last year, making it the fastest-growing county in the Valley — and among the fastest-growing in the state, state data released this week show.
The county added 5,796 people from July 1, 2009 to July 1, 2010, according to the California Department of Finance data.
Almost all of that increase this year — 95 percent — is a result of births within the county. State figures say 1,412 people moved into the county, while another 1,168 people left.
Those figures include all legal and illegal foreign immigrants, residents who left the state to live abroad and the balance of hundreds of people moving within the United States both to and from the county.
Nearby counties had similar growth rates, with Fresno County's population rising 0.9 percent, Kings County expanding 0.95 percent and Kern County's population going up 1.25 percent. Counties along the Valley floor grew much faster than other regions of California by percentage.
It's one of many recent surveys to find that the Valley clout may be rising across the state.
Those new population figures will play an important role in redistributing federal dollars within the state and redrawing legislative districts. If the population of the Valley is found to be larger than expected — and it might after an aggressive campaign by the U.S. Census Bureau to count under-represented groups last year — that could mean more money for local programs and more clout in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.
But those numbers may also be a mixed blessing.
"When it comes to transportation and infrastructure, the Valley isn't prepared for an increase in population," said Amy Moffat, the director of research and communications for the
Great Valley Center, the Modesto-based nonprofit group that studies the Central Valley economy and demographics.
"If the economy comes back, this is really going to become an issue," she added. "Truck traffic on the highways will increase, more people will move here, there will be more children in the schools."
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