ABQ’s Population Growth Minuscule

City's Population Grows by 0.2 Percent; Third Worst in Region

BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI

The city of Albuquerque's population grew by 1,227, or 0.2 percent in the year that ended July 1, 2015, for the third worst growth rate of 12 major cities in the region, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday. That growth rate put Albuquerque in 554^th place among the 749 cities with populations of more than 50,000 in terms of its rate of growth. Only El Paso and Las Cruces had lower growth rates of cities in the region. Denver had the highest growth rate at 2.8 percent and an additional 18,582 residents over the year. Phoenix added 24,614 people for a 1.6 percent growth rate, while Austin grew by 19,117, or 2.1 percent. That Albuquerque's population grew at all is good news. Both the four-county metro area and the state have had net outmigrations of residents over the past several years, meaning more people have left the area and state than came to them. As of July 1, Albuquerque's population was 559,121. The Albuquerque metro area's population grew by a measly 0.27 percent in the year that ended July 1, 2015, the second-worst performance of 10 major metro areas in the region. The area's net outmigration totaled 1,552 people. New Mexico was one of seven states that lost population in the year that ended July 1. During the year, the state's population fell by 458 people, or 0.02 percent. It was the second consecutive year that New Mexico's population declined. In the year that ended July 1, 2014, the population shrank by 1,314 people. In the year that ended July 1, New Mexico had a net outmigration of 9,721 people. The domestic outmigration, that is, U.S. residents, totaled 13,352 during the year. That was offset by the 3,631 people came here from foreign countries. And since April of 2010, New Mexico's net outmigration has totaled 27,115 people. During that time, domestic outmigration totaled 43,041. That was offset by the 15,926 people who arrived here from other countries.

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