State added 100,000 residents, Pinal 10,000 in 2015, lured by climate, cost of living
By Madison Alder | Cronkite News
WASHINGTON — Arizona’s population grew by nearly 100,000 in 2015, driven largely by growth in Maricopa County, which saw the second-largest increase among counties in the nation, according to new Census Bureau estimates.
The bureau’s 2015 population estimates for counties and metro areas also shows that Maricopa finished first in the nation for net domestic migration growth for the year, or people moving in from other areas of the country.
The growth brought the state’s overall population to an estimated 6.83 million residents as of July 1. Most of the growth was in Maricopa County, which gained 77,925 residents from the year before. About half of those, or 37,670, were attributed to domestic migration.
But Maricopa was not the only county to see an increase in 2015, as 10 of the state’s 15 counties posted gains. Pinal County added more than 10,000 new residents from July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2015, topping 400,000 for the first time.