Owensboro’s population is on track to crack the 60,000 mark during the 2020 census.
The U.S. Census Bureau said, in a report scheduled for release Thursday, May 23, that the city’s estimated population on July 1, 2018, was 59,809.
That’s up 291 from the estimate of 59,518 last year.
And it’s only 191 people away from 60,000.
“That’s fantastic,” Mayor Tom Watson said Wednesday. “I have a friend from Memphis who would drive in on Parrish Avenue and say, ‘Is that (population) sign ever going to change.’ “
The numbers changed each year.
But they’ve started with a “5” for almost 50 years.
Owensboro hit the 50,000 mark in 1970 with an official census report of 50,329 people.
It’s taken nearly 50 years to approach the 60,000 mark.
Daviess County grew by 558 people last year, the census bureau reported earlier.
That breaks down to 291 who moved inside the city limits and 267 who are living outside the city.
Most subdivisions have been built outside the city in recent decades.
“That’s great since we’re so land starved in the city,” Watson said. “We must be repurposing neighborhoods.”
In September 2017, the city annexed an 81.7-acre field at Scherm Road and Barron Drive on Owensboro’s southwest side.
Jagoe Homes plans to build 306 single-family homes and duplexes in the development called Bluegrass Commons.
But none of the houses had been completed by July 1, 2018.
The increase came without annexation.
The growth, as slow as it’s been, shows that the community is growing and attracting development, he said.
Of the 29 cities in western Kentucky and southern Indiana that the Messenger-Inquirer checked, 10 gained population last year, 17 lost and two remained the same.
Evansville, Henderson, Madisonville, Hopkinsville and Paducah all lost population between 2017 and 2018, the report shows.
And so did many of the small cities in the Owensboro region.
“This kind of slow and steady growth is bucking the national trend,” Candance Castlen Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday. “Instead of losing population like our peer cities, we are retaining and actually recruiting talent.”
She said, “The strategy of talent, innovation and place that our community embarked upon over a decade ago is paying off. When you travel outside of Owensboro, you hear the buzz about our community. That is paying off.”
Brake said, “We will continue to see our population uptick as our younger people begin looking for places to live with a high quality of life — a community with a small-town feel and big-city amenities. That is Greater Owensboro.”
Elizabethtown, like Owensboro, is growing slowly.
Its population increased by 612 last year to 30,157.
Bowling Green added 1,127 people last year, bringing its total to 68,401.
In the past nine years, Owensboro’s population has grown by 2,544.
Between 2000 and 2010, it grew by 3,198.
The city’s fastest growing years were between 1950 and 1960, when it added 8,820 residents.
City 2000 2017 2018
Owensboro 57,265 59,518 59,809
Whitesville 552 553 554
Beaver Dam 3,409 3,569 3,589
Bowling Green 58,067 67,274 68,401
Calhoun 763 735 736
Centertown 423 435 432
Central City 5,978 5,794 5,754
Drakesboro 515 505 504
Elizabethtown 28,531 29,545 30,157
Fordsville 524 527 526
Greenville 4,312 4,285 4,252
Hartford 2,672 2,724 2,740
Hawesville 945 997 992
Henderson 28,757 28,715 28,432
Hopkinsville 31,577 30,834 30,026
Island 458 444 445
Lewisport 1,670 1,701 1,695
Lexington 295,803 322,193 323,780
Livermore 1,305 1,297 1,297
Louisville 597,337 619,848 620,118
McHenry 388 393 390
Madisonville 19,591 18,991 18,333
Paducah 25,024 24,944 24,850
Powderly 745 738 741
Rockport 266 267 267
Sacramento 468 442 445
South Carrollton 184 182 181
Indiana
Cannelton 1,563 1,498 1,488
Evansville 117,429 118,288 117,963
Rockport 2,270 2,169 2,153
Tell City 7,272 7,283 7,237
Keith Lawrence, 270-691-7301, klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com