Little Elm reaches 22,650 mark in new population totals
By LAURA CHILDRESS

While growth slowed during 2007, the North Central Texas area still saw its population increase by 131,000, for a total of 6,538,850, as of Jan. 1, 2008.

In new population estimates released by the North Central Texas Council of Governments last Thursday, NCTCOG noted that despite the decrease in growth, attributed to a slowdown in new single-family completions, the area still marked its 12th consecutive year to see 100,000 newcomers move into the area.

Almost 39,000 new single-family units were completed in 2007, 9,000 fewer than in 2006. NCTCOG noted, however, that the region experienced a marked increase in new multifamily units, with close to 11,600 added in 2007, up from 8,300 the previous year.

Over 40 percent of the region’s growth was located in five cities: Dallas, Fort Worth, McKinney, Frisco and Plano. Dallas added 19,850 new residents, to bring its population to 1,300,350; Fort Worth followed, with the addition of 16,000 new residents, to reach 702,850; McKinney added 6,200, to hit 118,200; Frisco came ever closer to the 100,000 mark, reaching 97,600 with its 5,500 new residents; and Plano added 5,200 people to hit 260,900.

Denton County saw the addition of 14,050 new residents in 2007, a 2.34-percent increase.

Little Elm saw the greatest increase (3.9 percent) among municipalities in Denton County over 20,000 in population, adding 850 residents during the year, to push its population to 22,650, up from 3,646 as of the 2000 Census.

The town is the sixth largest in Denton County, behind Carrollton (120,550), Denton (106,050), Lewisville (92,850), Flower Mound (62,450) and The Colony (39,850).

NCTCOG’s population estimates are based on current housing inventories for each city in the region with a population of 1,000 or more. These figures are then reviewed for consistency with labor force estimates and vital statistics. An estimate for people living in group quarters (nursing homes, dormitories, prisons, etc.) is also included in the final population. All figures are reviewed by area cities prior to publication.

NCTCOG adds that there is normally a variance between NCTCOG and Census Bureau estimates since Census Burea estimates are for the year ending July 2007, while NCTCOG figures are for the year ending December 2007. In addition, Census Bureau figures are dervied from births, deaths, net domestic migration and net international migration, while NCTCOG figures are based primarily on building permits, occupancy and household size.