KOOTENAI COUNTY, Idaho — The Inland Northwest is an area on the rise. More people, more building, more changes.
It’s obvious to anyone who lives here that the area is growing, and it’s backed up by census numbers that show Coeur d'Alene and Spokane are among the fastest-growing cities in the country.
Here are three things to know about the growth in the Inland Northwest.
100,000+ new people
Between 2010 and 2020, Kootenai County grew by nearly 33,000 people. That ranks 191st in the country for the number of new people, out of 3,143 counties tracked across the country.
Spokane County grew by more than 68,000 people coming in at number 90 nationwide.
Growth in the Inland Northwest comes as the majority of counties in the United States are losing population. West Coast states, for the most part, continue to show growth.
Relative growth
The census data shows Kootenai County's population exploded by 23.7%, the 81st most of any county in the country.
Spokane County's population increased by 14.5% between the 2010 and 2020, ranking at 238.
This shows that Kootenai County, while smaller in population, is growing at a faster pace than Spokane County.
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Where are people living?
The census tracked how many homes were considered vacant in each county.
Kootenai County had about a 10% vacancy in 2020. That ranked them at number 2,186 which is in the bottom third of counties.
Meanwhile, Spokane County had only 5.2% of units vacant. Ranking at number 3,003 of all the counties in the country, placing it in the bottom 5% for availability.
Even within the last two years since the last census, these numbers have changed, but there's no doubt our population in the Inland Northwest is growing faster than there are places to live.