Pocatello metro area loses population

The shift of Idaho’s population from rural counties to urban areas slowed last year.

Estimates released by the Census Bureau on Thursday showed the 33 rural counties saw their combined population increase for the first time in three years.

The population of the rural counties rose two-tenths of a percent from mid-2012 to mid-2013, or about 1,200 people.

The population of the 11 urban counties increased 1.5 percent.

The Pocatello metro area was the only one of the five metro areas to lose population, dropping a half percent. In that area, Bannock County’s population dropped a half percent with 1,100 people leaving. Power County lost 1.1 percent of its population due to the exodus of 150 people. It was the third straight year of declining population for the county that from 2007 to 2010 led all counties in population growth, the Idaho Department of Labor said.

Statewide, Idaho’s population rose 1 percent to just over 1.6 million, resuming a growth rate higher than the national rate of seven-tenths of a percent.

Click here to see Idaho’s county growth, as supplied by the Department of Labor.