SC is the 10th Fastest Growing State

COLUMBIA — South Carolina was the 10th-fastest-growing state from July 2007 to July 2008, according to U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates released this week.

The state grew by 1.7%, from 4,404,914 to 4,479,800 people.

South Carolina also ranked 10th in terms of actual peopled added, with 74,886.

Utah was the nation’s fastest-growing state during the past year, with a growth rate of 2.5%.

Six of the 10 fastest-growing states were Rocky Mountain states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. The others were southern states: Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The Census Bureau said that the West was the fastest-growing region but that the South added the most people, 1.4 million people.

Between the 2000 census and the 2008 estimates, South Carolina’s 11.7% growth rate earned another 10th-place spot.

The state’s 2000 population was 4,011,809. In the past eight years, the state has added nearly half a million people.

The Census Bureau uses births, deaths, administrative records and survey data to develop its annual population estimates. \

Of the 74,886 people added to South Carolina in the past year, 49,736 are counted as the net of people moving here from other states and South Carolinians leaving the state for other states. Similarly, 5,113 represents net migration to other countries.

The remainder of the increase is the net of births and deaths, or 19,613, and a residual factor that census officials say is not attributable to a specific demographic.