Data ranks Provo/Orem as fastest growing area in nation

11 hours ago  •  Genelle Pugmire - Daily Herald

PROVO -- Hang on, Happy Valley -- the growth roller coaster has left the platform. According to data released by Pitney Bowes Software on Tuesday, the Provo-Orem area ranks first on a list of the nation's fastest-growing metropolitan areas and will remain that way for the next five years.

Both Provo and Orem mayors were not surprised to hear the news, and both noted not only excitement but a desire to maintain what is already established.

"With the two recently announced developments, we anticipate a lot of growth in the downtown area," Provo Mayor John Curtis said. "The demographic is changing. It's not about home ownership anymore."

Curtis added, "This complements precisely our efforts in the downtown area. We're ready to welcome them home. For most of my three years not one residential planner has called. Now things are picking up and developers are calling."

"Wow," Gary McGinn, Provo's community development director, said. "We've been anticipating we'll have fast growth and how we will accommodate that growth while preserving the characteristics of what makes Provo such a desirable place to live."

McGinn added, "Our valley has such a great demographic profile, it's not surprising companies would want to locate here. We've been planning on it."

According to a press release from Pitney Bowes, from 2012 to 2017 Provo-Orem's population is projected to add nearly 11,000 new households, or 7.4 percent at an annual rate of 1.5 percent. However, that is slower than the 4 percent growth rate between 2000 and 2010. Because the two-city area has an excess of 100,000 households it is considered a major metropolitan area. Coming in second and third are Austin, Texas, and Killeen/Fort Hood, Texas.

"We recognize this is a wonderful place to live," Orem Mayor Jim Evans said. "With growth you have the good and the bad. You've got to continue to have sustained economic growth. We as leaders need to do all we can to support the businesses that are already here. We aren't through being a retail powerhouse."

Orem's director of development services Stanford Sainsbury said, "I think this means great things. This is a result of the people we have here. It's exciting and a challenge to meet the growth. And, they'll bring their business with them. It will become a center for technology with great brain power. It will raise the salaries and enhance the cultural arts.

"This is the reward for all of the work our predecessors and pioneers went through. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before."

According to the press release, Pitney Bowes's demographic projections combine national projections by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin. Those complement state and county projections based on county trending from the Census Bureau.

While Provo-Orem will be the fastest growing, the metro areas of Houston, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., are projected to add the most households.

Detroit and Charleston, W.V., are the only major metropolitan areas expected to see a decline in the number of households in the next five years.

Pitney Bowes analyzed 384 metropolitan areas. For most of the country growth will remain stagnant. It will slow in 78 percent of the metro areas. Washington, D.C., and New York have returned to the top five metropolitan areas for absolute growth.