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Jackson County has grown 1.5% since mid-2016 Thursday Nov 16, 2017 at 5:04 PM Nov 16, 2017 at 5:20 PM Greg Stiles Mail Tribune @GregMTBusiness Jackson County is growing at a slightly slower pace than the rest of the Oregon. As of July 1, figures compiled by Portland State University's Population Research Center show that Jackson County grew at a 1.5 percent clip from the middle of 2016 to an estimated 216,900 residents, up from 213,765. Oregon grew by 1.6 percent, to 4.14 million from 4.08 million during the period. Between 2015 and 2016, Jackson County grew at a 1.3 percent rate. The growth pattern is no surprise to Brad Bennington, executive officer for the Builders Association of Southern Oregon. "Oregon was the most moved-to state in 2014 and again in 2015, and we were No. 3 in 2016," Bennington said. With roughly 5 percent of the state's population, Southern Oregon builders can't begin to keep pace with the demand for housing, he said. "If we were already having trouble building enough housing for people who moved in last year, when you move that up a couple of clicks, you can see how problematic that's going to be in 2018." The steady climb has relied on in-migration, because there's been a steady trend of fewer births and more deaths. "Net migration drives the vast majority of Oregon's population gains, particularly as the natural increase continues to slow," wrote Josh Lehner, of Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, in his blog. "Births still outnumber deaths in Oregon, but that gap is narrowing. Our office still believes slower population growth is the right near-term outlook, however, it did not come to pass in 2017." The fastest-growing urban center in Jackson County was Eagle Point, which grew 1.9 percent — slightly faster than the rest of the state. The Upper Rogue community picked up 135 new residents, to a population of 8,930. Medford's population bumped up 1.4 percent to 79,590. Statewide in 2017, Oregon population increased by 64,750, or 1.59 percent, stronger than in 2016 when the state added 62,505 new residents for a 1.56 percent increase. Lehner noted PSU figures tend to be more accurate than Census estimates in real time, for intercensal years. "These numbers matter considerably because they are the official state estimates used for distributing shared revenues, land use laws and the like," Lehner said. "Our office's baseline outlook has called for population growth to slow overall as the economy transitions down to a more sustainable, longer-run rate." — Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness or www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31.