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LEHI — With expanding streets, housing and even a new high school, there’s no question that Lehi is vastly growing.
New U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday notes Lehi isn’t just the fastest-growing city in Utah, it’s the 11th-fastest growing city in the United States and the third-fastest growing city in the western region with a growth of 4.6 percent from July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2016.
The bureau estimates Lehi’s population grew to 61,130 in 2016. That’s an increase of more than 13,500 from the 2010 Census and more than triple the population from the 2000 Census report.
Its growth came from a report that noted the sharpest rise in population came from southern and western areas in the U.S. In fact, 14 of the 15 of the fastest growing cities — of 50,000 or more — were located in those two regions.
Conroe, Texas, located in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area, topped the list with a 7.8 percent rise from 2015 to 2016. Texas cities claimed the first three and six of the top 15 spots on the list.
Bend, Oregon led western cities with a 4.9 percent jump in population.
South Jordan, at 3.8 percent, placed second in growth among cities of 50,000 or more in Utah. Orem (3.4 percent), St. George (2.7 percent) were third and fourth, while Logan and Sandy tied for fifth at 1.9 percent growth.
Logan’s population was estimated at 50,676, marking the first time it had surpassed 50,000, according to the bureau. It is now the 13th city in Utah that has surpassed that mark.
According to a spokesperson, 50,000 is the population where the Census Bureau is required to track data of a city.
Logan was one of just five cities in America that crossed the 50,000 population mark in 2016. The other cities were Aliso Viejo, California; Parker, Colorado; Cerritos, California and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Lehi’s growth, however, has been well documented as people and businesses continue to come to the city, while the city’s officials have worked to balance out the needs that have popped up along the way.
The population boom has led to an expansion of business and housing developments. In 2016, Skyridge High School opened to address the growing number of students in the school system.
Last Friday, the Utah Department of Transportation got the green light to move forward with a $450 million project to relieve traffic in areas around Lehi beginning in 2018.
“The last seven years have been phenomenal for growth,” the city’s mayor, Bert Wilson, told KSL in March. “I don’t know of a time when Lehi has had any more growth than what we’re seeing right now.”
