D.C. area's population is still blooming; Data show brisk growth 163,000 gain in 2 years; people coming 'for jobs'
New census statistics released Tuesday show that the Washington region's population has continued to grow at a brisk pace since the onset of the economic downturn, another indicator that the area has weathered the recession better than other parts of the country.</br></br>In the two years preceding July 1, 2009, the region added 163,000 people, bringing the total to almost 5.5 million residents -- a growth rate of about 3 percent, faster than that of any other Eastern Seaboard city. Metropolitan New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore all grew by less than 1 percent during the same period, and the Boston area's population increased by about 2 percent.</br></br>The two-year period encompasses a year and a half of the recession, which officially began in December 2007.</br></br>While the Washington area has shed jobs, it has lost far fewer than other metropolitan areas, said John McClain, deputy director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. The region was down 29,000 jobs in January, compared with January 2008. During the same time, New York lost 224,000 jobs, Boston lost 62,000 and Baltimore was down 35,000 positions.</br></br>"It's got to be people moving here for jobs," McClain said of the population jump. "We are the healthiest economy of the whole country, in terms of how we have fared during the recession, relative to jobs."