Tri-City area population Estimates

Erik · Post by **Erik** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:17 am

Once GrandIsland hits the big 50,000 mark, I expect a Grand Island/Hastings metro area, Kearney for several years would not be included, but after time it may become a CSA

Real strong numbers here for Nebraska's 2nd populated area (after Omaha/Lincoln)

Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2006 Â Â Â 2005 Â Â Â Â 2000
Grand Island: 44,632 44,127 Â Â Â 42,940
Kearney: Â Â Â 29,385 29,021 Â Â Â 27,431
Hastings: Â Â Â 25,144 25,221 Â Â Â 24,064
Lexington: Â Â 10,251 Â 10,095 Â Â Â 10,011
Cozad: Â Â Â Â Â 4,284 Â Â 4,228 Â Â Â Â 4,163

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 11:56 am

Wow I though g.i. was way past 50,000 by now. Â Kind of surprised.

edsas · Post by **edsas** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:49 pm

MTO, maybe you're thinking of the Hall County number which is 55,500 (est. 2006).

Anyway, nice steady growth. Â But I'd like to see one of the tri-cities get a booster shot and pick up closer to 10,000 in a decade (instead of 2,000-4,000). Â The infrastructure's certainly there to lure a major employer of some kind. Probably just a matter of time.

edsas · Post by **edsas** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 1:35 pm

As a former resident of GI and whose parents still live there, I can verify that the city was never "mad" that Bellevue surpassed it in population. The local boosters simply pointed out that GI is not a suburb. Which is true.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:15 pm

Yeah there is some bitterness. Â Not that they go burn down flags or anything. Â I remember there even being some businesses named third city this or that. Â Such as third city sanitation. Â And the news used to dub g.i. as the third city. Â And old habits are hard to change so I'm sure they still think of them selves as the third city.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:57 pm

He's not kidding... how sad...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2 ... +island%22

Candleshoe · Post by **Candleshoe** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 6:27 am

He's not kidding... how sad...

So, by following your link, you're suggesting that any business, church or club that has the name of "Third City", should adjust their name, subject to the U.S. Census reports?

Tell that to the hundreds of businesses and organizations named "Second City" in Chicago.

Anyway, this thread seems to be bait for a GI/Bellevue argument... so what the he££

Here are a few numbers that suggest we're comparing apples and oranges when it comes to whom is the bigger city:

2006 estimated populations:

Bellevue: 47,594 Â Â Daytime population: 35,945
Grand Island: 44,632 Â Daytime population: 49,241 (based on employment in city)

Here's an oddity... Grand Island Fire personnel: 69 Â Â Bellevue: 4 (volunteer dept)

Taxable sales, Nebraska DOR

December 2006
Bellevue: 38,535,837
Grand Island: 87,797,483

January 2007
Bellevue: 25,872,070
Grand Island: 67,190,459

February 2007
Bellevue: 26,080,171
Grand Island: 61,500,462

In fact, in each of those months (the latest available from the state) Grand Island city taxable sales were higher than all of Sarpy County combined.

I could go on, but in all fairness, Bellevue is a suburban bedroom community, Grand Island is not, so it's all really rather moot, anyway.

jsheets · Post by **jsheets** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:50 am

Well, but I'm betting that your numbers are not counting the largest employer in Bellevue, and one of the top in the Omaha metro, Offut Air Force Base. Â It is on federal land, so I'm guessing that the big drop in daytime is actually people just working at the base on federal land that is surrounded by Bellevue. Â Also, I'm not sure that base housing is counted in your population numbers.

I'm not nitpicking. Â I'm just trying to support the city that I commute into everyday.

Yes, it is becoming a bedroom community, but really only since the JFK was completed. Â Bellevue is still rooted as a military town, though it has been morphing in recent years.

Also, most of the military families shop for groceries and goods on base a lot of the time, hence the lower sales figures.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:56 am

Quote:
He's not kidding... how sad...

So, by following your link, you're suggesting that any business, church or club that has the name of "Third City", should adjust their name, subject to the U.S. Census reports?

Relax... I wasn't suggesting that at all... I was just saying it was unfortunate that there are businesses in Grand Island which based their name on a status which 'officially' no longer exists (and I guess more surprised that there were even businesses that took that name... are there any 'second city' businesses in Lincoln? or are they too proud to acknowledge their playing second fiddle to Omaha?

)

There's no debating that Grand Island is the 3rd most important center of commerce in Nebraska... they're still Nebraska's 'third city' in my mind.

Candleshoe · Post by **Candleshoe** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 11:48 am

There's no debating that Grand Island is the 3rd most important center of commerce in Nebraska... they're still Nebraska's 'third city' in my mind.

Understood and appreciated. I was really on the verge of a major "snit fit". Â :evil: Â :mrgreen:

On the other hand, and this borders on a whole new discussion, so the admin can feel free to repost or edit or whatever, if desired... Â I often wonder about the self esteem issues that Bellevue must suffer, being overlooked more often than not... cases in point would include this very forum, where it was celebrated recently that the Space Shuttle was coming to Omaha (no, it was more Bellevue than Omaha, technically), the number of people I have heard say they live in "Omaha"... "oh really? what part?" ..."Bellevue" or any other of the suburbs.

Now, I know this isn't unique to Bellevue. I have a ton of relatives in Denver and not a single one of them lives "in Denver". In the Denver metro, I'd suggest that Golden and Boulder are about the only cities that retain any of their own identity. Westminster, Arvada, Lakewood, Centennial Â and Thornton are each over 100,000... Aurora is nearly 300,000 and the 60th largest in the US, but really... it's "Denver".

Same with virtually any large metro...

Will the Omaha 'burbs suffer the same fate, or is it already too late?

[/quote]

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:11 pm

Nebraska rural population decline accelerating
http://www.theindependent.com/news/x147 ... celerating

The estimates show that 166 of Nebraska's 531 towns and cities lost 10 percent or more of their population from 2000 to 2007. That represents 31 percent of all of Nebraska's towns and cities.

That figure is up sharply from 11 percent that lost 10 percent or more between 2000 and 2006.

"To see basically a tripling … that's a pretty big movement over a one-year time period," said David Drozd, a research associate at UNO's public affairs center.

Grand Island, though, was not part of the trend of Nebraska communities losing population.

Drozd said U.S. Census Bureau estimates show that Grand Island lost population from 2000 to 2001 but has gained population for each of the seven years since that time.

He said Grand Island gained an estimated 571 people from 2006 to 2007.

"That was the fifth-largest gain in the state," Drozd said.

It also was Grand Island's biggest one-year gain during the past eight years. The city's weakest population growth was between 2004 and 2005, when the city added just 66 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

From 2000 to 2007, Grand Island has grown by an estimated 1,862 people, for a gain of 4.3 percent in population, Drozd said.

Grand Island's total estimated population is now 44,802 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Hastings has grown by 1,279 people from 2000 to 2007, for a 5.3 percent population gain.

Kearney has grown by 2,698 people, for a 9.84 percent population gain.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Hastings' total population is now 25,343 and that Kearney's total population is now 30,179.

This puts the tri-city area up over 100,000 by just a hair. Pretty interesting article!

Candleshoe · Post by **Candleshoe** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:56 pm

This puts the tri-city area up over 100,000 by just a hair. Pretty interesting article!

If you're going to say "area", it'd be more appropriate to use the micropolitan areas for each of the cities for the true "Tri City Area"

Using the new July 2007 estimates for micropolitan areas,

Grand Island Â 69,944
Kearney Â 51,578
Hastings Â Â 39,320

Combined Tri City Area: 160,842

gisbuxfan · Post by **gisbuxfan** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:00 pm

Sorry for that...I suppose you would be right. Well, pretty significant with all smaller populations added in! By the time we're out of this economic rut, we might even start attracting some bigger name corporations and retailers! Well, at least I can always dream

Erik · Post by **Erik** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:37 pm

gisbuxfan wrote:Sorry for that...I suppose you would be right. Well, pretty significant with all smaller populations added in! By the time we're out of this economic rut, we might even start attracting some bigger name corporations and retailers! Well, at least I can always dream

Well, you already have facilities that are suited for cities much bigger, and that shows that the tri-cities are close to being a consolidated market...

I consider this region to be Nebraska's second population center..