Westfield, Indiana is a great place to live, with plenty of parks like Quaker Park, Macgregor Park, and Asa Bales Park. The city also has a variety of restaurants, such as The Italian House on Park, Grindstone on the Monon, and The Mill Tavern. Greenwood is known for its large, historic houses and charming downtown. If you're looking for a bite to eat in Greenwood, try The Yard Cafe, Valhalla Sandwiches, and the Baranof Restaurant.
Afterward, take a walk through one of the many parks like Old City Park. Finally, don't miss a show at the Greenwood Performing Arts Center. A recent analysis by the Indiana Business Research Center at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University revealed that Indiana had the lowest annual population increase in nearly a decade. This was mainly due to the low rate of natural population increase. The fastest-growing counties outside the Indianapolis area were in southeastern Indiana.
Ohio County had the second highest growth rate in the state at 2.0%, while its rural neighbor Switzerland County was fourth with an increase of 1.6%.For two consecutive years, Marion County had the largest population decline in the state, with a loss of approximately 2,180 residents, a drop of 0.2%. Marion County now has nearly 969,500 residents and is the 54th most populous county in the U. S. LaPorte County had the second largest decline in the state with 811 residents, followed by Vandenburgh (-523 residents), Monroe (-390), and Miami (-35 counties).
Blackford, Miami and Orange counties had the steepest declines in the state last year with each one falling by approximately 1%. Of the 69 counties with a natural decline, 37 had enough net immigration to overcome these losses and generate an overall population increase. Marion County had the highest natural increase in the state with 3,736 residents, followed by Hamilton (1.29), Allen (1,190), and Elkhart (81 counties). Compared to other neighboring states with large metropolitan areas, Indianapolis' growth rate of 0.6% was only lower than Columbus (Ohio) at 0.7%. Meanwhile, growth rates in Cincinnati (0.2%), Louisville (0.0%), Detroit (-0.5%), Cleveland (-0.5%) and Chicago (0.8%) lagged far behind. The Columbus area led all metropolitan areas in Indiana with a growth rate of 1%, totaling 83,540 residents.
Other metropolitan areas that showed relatively strong growth include Fort Wayne (0.6%) and Lafayette-West Lafayette (0.5%). For more information on these estimates visit STATS Indiana population data. The Indiana Business Research Center is part of a national network of state data centers and acts as Indiana's official state representative to the Census Bureau on issues related to the census and population estimates. They receive support from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development for this work including their award-winning Hoosiers by the Numbers and STATS Indiana websites.
