Des Moines' population growth outpaces state, Midwest (Cedar Rapids, Davenport: fit in, loft)

[atler8]

One other point here Jonez.
I very early in this thread said that Des Moines is nearly back to it's 1960 population peak within it's corporate limits so that fact has not been ignored as you claimed. I brought it up myself in my initial post.
What is "impressive" is that the 2 decades-long drop in population that began in the 1960's has stopped & been turned around into a slow but steady increase. During the 1970's alone the city fell by 5% or 10,000 in population.
It's especially good news & a notable turn around in view of the fact that the city lost the chance years ago through inaction to add land on the west, northwest & north central sides that would have given Des Moines access to areas where the growth has been most concentrated in suburbia.

[tollfree]

It's a nationwide trend besides the sunbelt cities..the city itself stays about the same, loses people, or doesn't grow at the same proportion of the suburbs. You can read about it if you want...I don't have time to compare every city vs metro population growth statistic.

Hispanic population is the fastest growing segment in the US and have probably helped a lot of cities with their population bragging statistics.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by RonnieJonez

It's a nationwide trend besides the sunbelt cities..the city itself stays about the same, loses people, or doesn't grow at the same proportion of the suburbs. You can read about it if you want...I don't have time to compare every city vs metro population growth statistic.

Hispanic population is the fastest growing segment in the US and have probably helped a lot of cities with their population bragging statistics.

Des Moines has a high birth rate relative to other metropolitan areas so I'm not surprised. The percentage of the population under age 18 is elevated. Des Moines compares to Omaha in terms of population age structure demographics. In fact, many metropolitan areas in the Great Plains and western Midwest are similar in this regard.

[atler8]

Actually the booming Hispanic population is also fueling suburban growth in many areas around the country too.
Down in my neck of the woods, the Hispanic growth is far more pronounced in suburbia than it is in the core city of the metro.
I imagine that additional new stats will eventually be available that will delineate those post-2010 changes in the suburban counties of Des Moines too.
I do however recall that the Register elaborated repeatedly on the brand new data after the 2010 census that revealed that a major portion of the growth in the State of Iowa had been fueled by the rapid rise of it's minority population numbers.

[funksoulbro]

Cedar Rapids and Davenport have both seen population within their borders increase since 1960:

Cedar Rapids was 92,035 in 1960. They are up to 126,528 as of 2011... for an increase of 37.5%.
Davenport was 88,981 in 1960. They are up to 101,363 as of 2012... for an increase of 13.9%.

Meanwhile, Sioux City and Waterloo have seen population decreases since 1960. So, of the five largest cities in Iowa, only two (Davenport and Cedar Rapids) have seen double-digit growth since 1960. Why aren't representatives from either one of those cities starting ridiculous threads about how their population growth has "outpaced" the rest of the state's urban areas for 50 years?

Perhaps they're not as insecure as Des Moines posters. Just a thought.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by funksoulbro

. Why aren't representatives from either one of those cities starting ridiculous threads about how their population growth has "outpaced" the rest of the state's urban areas for 50 years?

Perhaps they're not as insecure as Des Moines posters. Just a thought.

Again, seemingling lost on you - the thread title is the title of an article in the media. This thread creates a forum to discuss it. We're now several pages deep.

Yeah....ridiculous topic to start a thread on.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Once again Des Moines, IA should be TRYING to compete with Madison, WI. It fails to do so and your article link proves the point. The growth rate in Madison, WI is double that of Des Moines, IA and job growth in Madison over time is much greater.

Madison's city limits include a large area of the metro that's building new housing. Des Moines' city limits are much more constricted. The metro area of Des Moines is growing FASTER than the metro area of Madison. Same with Lincoln, Nebraska. The city itself houses most of the metro area and grew faster than the city of Des Moines, but the Des Moines metro is growing quite a bit faster than metro Lincoln. The growth in Des Moines is just across the boundry of the actual city limits (which don't really mean much in the context of an urban environment).

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by RonnieJonez

They simply don't like it (any viewpoint not parallel to theirs), I have said good things about it as well, which go unnoticed, but the culture is strange.

Something else that should be noted, in most larger cities you get a cross-section of replies (regarding the culture as well), since not everyone is from that state, and even those from the state are not so brainwashed either.

You never read much about the actual culture of the city when it comes to Des Moines/Madison/Omaha sized cities. Everyone is convinced it's this perfect utopia somewhere between big-city and medium-city, with all the big city offerings like an Apple store & Trader Joe's as funksoulbro said, and they've found Shangri-La.

Des Moines still probably takes it farther than those cities. It's literally so "out there" to some of the local posters to admit one other person agrees with myself, that they will accuse that person of being myself.

Happened recently with Camille as well. Not really surprised, most have a tough time accepting not everyone is wearing the rose-colored glasses.

Comes off kinda delusional. No one is saying anyting AT ALL about Des Moines being some sort of cultural or any other sort of utopia. People may like the city and boast about it, but that's a GOOD thing. If they're doing it more than you want than stop listening. You're exaggerating though when someone says they love Des Moines and it's great and you seem to get angry as if they're saying it's the best city on earth. Someone says they think Des Moines has an awesome skyline for a city of its size and can compete with other cities and you respond that everyone in Des Moines thinks their skyline is the best on earth and rivals Hong Kong. What?? No one said anything close to that.

If I look at a painting and say that I really love it becaue the color of red in it is amazing, I would expect you to say that I'm completely obsesesed with the color red and I think it's the best color on earth and nothing else will EVER compare and anyone who thinks otherwise is crazy and that I'm completely warped and delusional.

[tollfree]

You need to just move to Des Moines already. Youv'e been this incessant cheerleader for how amazing it is while you claim to be in Chicago for some time now. They don't believe it rivals Hong Kong or NYC...but they believe it's all that in a smaller package, making it equally impressive. Not everyone likes the groupthink mentality - someone has to point it out. It really shouldn't be a big deal if one person isn't drinking the kool-aid.

Also, according to city-data.com:

Madison city limit is 68.7 sq miles.

Des Moines city limit is 75.8 sq miles.

Des Moines city limits are obviously not much more constricted.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by Drewjdeg

The way the thread is presented makes it sound a little cocky. Come on, Des Moines growth outpaces the Midwest!? Maybe the midwest as a whole, but its still growing slower Madison, Omaha, the twin cities...This is just something small but adding that extra part makes it sound real cocky. It's as if Des Moines is the BEST, FASTEST growing Midwest metro. Even so, I'm glad that that this was posted because it's always interesting to see population statistics but it does seem cocky. It's a small annoyance and not even worth arguing. BTW that was originally intended to be a joke, not malicious.

No one is saying that metro Des Moines is the BEST AND FASTEST, but the metro area is growing about 1/3 faster than Madison, Omaha or the Twin Cities.