Slowest Growth Since '79

The Washington Post reports:

According to the census estimates, Maryland's total population last year was 5,615,727, the 19th-highest in the nation, which is the same ranking it has had since 1990. The state gained a little more than 26,000 people from July 2005 to July 2006, also an increase of 0.5 percent, partly because of migration from other countries.

During the same period, Maryland lost an estimated 25,610 residents to what's called domestic migration: movement to other states, the highest total since at least 1990. As for movement out of specific counties -- regardless of where residents went -- the trend was dominated by changes in the inner-ring counties of Montgomery and Prince George's. The inner-ring, or "first-tier," counties are those closest to the District.

In Montgomery County, the arrival of foreign-born residents, coupled with the birth rate, pushed the population to 932,131 last year from 927,405 in 2005, up 0.5 percent. The growth rate was Montgomery's lowest since 1979. A number of Montgomery residents are likely to be moving to Frederick, Howard and Washington counties and to Virginia and other Southern states.

Surely, somebody will buy all those condos going up in Bethesda? Or maybe prices will drop and people will be able to afford to live here again.