The U.S. Census Bureau has new estimates on the size of Iowa cities. Beth Henning, coordinator of the State Data Center program in the State Library of Iowa, says from April 2000 to July 2002, 269 of Iowa’s cities gained residents, 629 cities lost population and 51 did not change. Des Moines remains the state’s largest city with an estimated population of 198-thousand-76 residents, and the smallest is Beaconsfield with a population of 11. Tiffin, in Johnson County, was the fastest growing city, increasing by 36-point-three percent. Fairfax in Linn County, Ackworth in Warren County, Marquette in Clayton County and Waukee in Dallas County rounded out the top five fastest-growing places in Iowa. Henning says the capital city suburbs of West Des Moines, Ankeny, and Urbandale each gained more than 2,000 residents. She says nearly all of the fastest growing cities are in metropolitan areas, but she says some of the large core cities in the metro areas, like Des Moines, Davenport and Sioux City, lost population. Henning says the numbers don’t actually tell you the number of men, women and children in each city. She says they’re estimates, but they can give us an idea of the general trend in population. Henning says the percentage of Iowans living in incorporated areas — or legally recognized cities and towns — has increased to 77.7 percent after holding steady at 76.6 percent in the 1990 and 2000 censuses. Populations from 1850 to 2002 for all Iowa cities can be found on the State Library’s State Data Center web page at www.silo.lib.ia.us.
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