By Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
City and County April 1 annual population estimates are released the beginning of July by the Office of Financial Management Forecasting and Research Division.
Upon their release, Cline and Associates imports the data into our database for use in determining “comparable” jurisdictions. Additional population data including Fire District population estimates and population density are released later in the year. The first set of 2023 population data for Cities and Counties as well as the full range of population data for 2022 can be found on our premium website. These include alphabetical and ranked tables.
Annual population estimates by the OFM use the decennial census numbers, and then calculate births, deaths and data on migration to estimate the annual changes. Below is a brief summary of the changes from 2022. Over time these year-to-year estimates, although just extrapolations from the decennial census numbers, prove fairly reliable and accurate.
Population is an important criterion used in negotiations and interest arbitration. Annual population changes do not generally impact the selection of comparables used in negotiations. Only a few of the small cities showed increases over 10% this year. Only 19 cities out of 281 had an annual population increase in 2023 that was over 4%. However, over time the increases can add up enough to drop off a lower matching comp or to add a larger city and so it is important to always use the most current data. And there are some large jumps in population including Mountlake Terrace with 7.88% increase in 2023. Occasionally cities annex additional land that can rapidly increase population such as Lacey and Lake Stevens in 2022. Typically, when large population changes occur, they are the result of annexations, not natural increases in population.
