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Palm Coast is the second-fastest growing major metropolitan area in the nation, according to data released Tuesday from Pitney Bowes Software.

The city’s population is projected to grow 9.4% over the next five years, adding 3,707 new households by 2017 at an annual growth rate of 1.9%.

The data define a major metropolitan area as one with 100,000 or more households. Jacksonville, N.C., topped the company’s list with a 9.9% growth rate over the next five years. 

Taking the number of households added in a city independent of its current population, Houston topped the list for growth, with a projected 141,000 new households by 2017. 

Most cities were expected to see growth rates slower than experienced between 2000 and 2010 — Palm Coast included.

Additionally, the Palm Coast metropolitan statistical area is in the highest quartile in the country for personal income growth between 2009 and 2011, City Manager Jim Landon said Tuesday at a Palm Coast City Council workshop.

Personal income growth increased by almost 6% between 2009 and 2010 and by 6.5% between 2010 and 2011, Landon said. Per capita income increased by about 4.4% between 2009 and 2010, and by 5% between 2010 and 2011.

These figures come shortly after announcements that Palm Coast’s unemployment has fallen 2.6% over 12 months and that, for the first time ever, more than 30,000 people are employed within Palm Coast’s metropolitan statistical area.

“We shouldn’t just sit here patting ourselves on the back when there’s still work to do and there are still people looking for jobs,” City Councilman David Ferguson said. “But it’s an affirmation that we’re going in the right direction.”

— Email Megan Hoye at megan@palmcoastobserver.com.

 

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