County sees growth

BY ROBERT L. BAKER

Susquehanna County grew by 1,118 persons from 2000 to 2010, according to numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week.

The county had 43,356 residents on April 1, 2010, compared to 42,238 a decade earlier.

Although complete data for the county is not due out until April 1, the numbers released last week show the county’s growth rate across the decade at 2.7 percent.

That rate was second best among the counties surrounding it. The top growth rate went to Wayne County, its neighbor to the east, which grew by 10.7 percent, from 47,722 in 2000 to 52,822 on April 1, 2010.

The immediate region, however, was behind the state of Pennsylvania which grew by 3.4 percent in population.

Despite that growth rate, Pennsylvania is to lose one congressional seat once the complete census data are in and a complete reapportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives is done in advance of the 2012 election.

Counties to the south of Susquehanna County showed a slightly smaller percentage increase across the decade with Wyoming County showing a modest growth rate of 0.7 percent and Lackawanna County growing by 0.5 percent.

Wyoming County grew by 196 residents from 28,080 to 28,276 in 2010.

Lackawanna County grew by 1,142 residents from 213,295 tto reverse a trend since 1930 which had it losing population in each succeeding decennial census.

Bradford County to the west, lost population across the decade by 0.2 percent from 62,761 to 62,622 in 2010.

The data released from 2010 marks the sixth straight census for Susquehanna County to show a net gain, however modest. In 1950, the county had 31,970 residents.