Quality of life, cost of living fuel growth

Tri-Cities Economic Report     March 28, 2008

Quality of life, cost of living fuel growth

By: Dean Schau, Regional Labor Economist

Can you name the fastest growing urban area within the state since the year 2000? Would it surprise you that it has been the City of Pasco with a growth rate of 57 percent from 2000 to 2007? This compared with a statewide rate of growth of 10 percent over this same period. Pasco went from 32,066 residents in 2000 to 50,210 in 2007.

Did you know that out of the state’s 39 counties, the fastest growing since 2000 has been Franklin County? The county population went from 49,347 in 2000 to 67,400 by 2007. This was a percentage gain of roughly 37 percent.

Over the same time, Benton County was the third fastest growing county with a population gain of 14.3 percent. Within the county, West Richland was the fastest growing community with a rate of 29.3 percent, followed by Richland at 16.4 percent and Kennewick at 14.2 percent.

A lot of remarkable things explain the population growth over the years. The construction of the vitrification plant at Hanford, while in a phase pause in 2006, added a little over 1,000 jobs during 2007. At the end of the year, there were 2,983 people on the project with a considerable monthly payroll.

That project, as well as highway and housing construction, many commercial projects, and the expansion of the Coyote Ridge Correction Center in Connell, pushed construction employment to the highest level in more than 25 years.  The expanded correction enter in north Franklin County will likely add more than 400 state-paying jobs during 2008 and hopefully will be a wonderful tonic for nascent retail section of the economy in Connell.

While much of the attention had been focused on all of the construction activity in 2007, local food processing also had a record year. Some of that record was due to expansions of our traditional food processing, but a good portion was due to the win industry. While it sometimes feels the focus of the Western Washington media on the wine industry glares on Walla Walla and Yakima counties, the majority of the state’s wine jobs are in the Tri-Cities, and the heart of the state’s wine industry is likely Prosser, where the wine industry has made an indelible mark on that community.

Also adding to the wealth of good economic news has been the result of the hard work by TRIDEC, the chambers of commerce, the port districts, the cities and everybody involved in economic development in recent years. The results are too many to name, but clearly these efforts have lessened the dependence the community had on Hanford.  Apart from the growth in the economy, the area’s population has grown for reasons other than jobs. The quality of life and the cost of living are remarkable here relative to other urban regions along the coast. This development is true not only for the Tri-Cities, but also for other small urban areas in Eastern Washington as well.  Perhaps the net flow of immigration from California first locates in the Puget Sound region, then fall begins and the rain commences and these California refugees begin to seek cheaper housing and drier alternatives.

For housing alone, in the Tri-Cities during the third quarter of last year, median prices were reported to be #172,400. This was a little more than a third of the $472,000 median cost of a home in King County. In Snohomish County, just north of King County, the median price was #370,000. South of King, in Pierce County, the median price was $288,700 and farther south, Thurston County was at $270,000.  All this housing data comes from the Washington State University Center for Real Estate Research.

So, give us your road weary, your mortgage poor,
Your huddled masses yearning for sun-filled days.