More people died than were born in Whatcom Co. last year, so how is it growing so fast?

The U.S. Census Bureau just released its 2023 population estimates for counties across the country. Whatcom County, unsurprisingly, grew. What was more surprising was how it grew. Here’s what the Census Bureau numbers say.

Whatcom County’s population, growth

The Census Bureau estimates that Whatcom County’s 2023 population was 231,919, up from 230,598 the year before, and 226,847 in the 2020 census. That makes it the ninth-largest county in the state.

Whatcom County grew by 1,321 people in 2023, the seventh most of any county in Washington state. Its growth rate of 0.6% might not seem as notable, but it was the third-highest rate of counties in the state with over 200,000 residents, and the fifth highest of counties with over 100,000.

High death rate, higher migration rate

Even though it’s growing so quickly, Whatcom County saw over 100 more deaths than births between July 2022 and July 2023. That’s a shocking number considering that the state as a whole saw nearly 15,000 more births than deaths that year. So where are all the new residents coming from?

The short answer is that a lot of people are moving to the area.

Whatcom County’s net migration was 1,413, meaning that many more people moved to the area than left. While 379 of those can be attributed to international migration, that number isn’t all that surprising given Washington gained 28,919 more residents than it lost due to international migration.

Where Whatcom County really stood out was domestic migration. Notably, 1,034 more people moved to the county from within the U.S. than left, while Washington as a whole lost 15,000 more residents to other states than it gained.

Only two counties in the state gained more residents from domestic migration than Whatcom – Clark County and Benton County. Since 2020, Bellingham has gained 3,851 more residents from domestic migration than it’s lost, also the third-highest figure in the state behind the same two counties.

What’s Bellingham’s population?

The Census Bureau didn’t release new estimates for individual cities, just counties, metropolitan areas and micropolitan areas (urban areas surrounding a city of more than 10,000 people, but less than 50,000) . It did release an estimate for the Bellingham metro area, but it was the exact same as the estimate for Whatcom County. The state’s Office of Financial Management is expected to release city-by-city population estimates in late June.

Until then, we looked at last year’s OFM number of 95,960, along with growth patterns and housing data to come up with an estimate of our own.