A lot of folks around think that Moncton is booming. And, admittedly it is doing quite well compared to the rest of New Brunswick. However, as I have mentioned before, it’s population growth rate from 1991 to 2001 was 37th out of the 100+ urban areas in Canada – not exactly stellar.
As a colleague constantly points out to me – where are the cranes? In fast growing cities, you tend to see a lot of those large cranes on the skyline aiding in the construction of new office towers or large buildings. Where are they?
But I digress. I wanted to point out what a ‘booming’ economy looks like. Consider Gilbert town, Arizona and its 32% population growth from 2000-2003. Or North Las Vegas city, Nevada (25.1%) or Henderson city, Nevada or Chandler city, Arizona or Irvine city, California
Port St. Lucie city, Florida or Rancho Cucamonga city, California or Fontana city, California or Peoria city, Arizona or Cape Coral city, Florida.
Notice a trend here?
Now, have a look at the population trends in the U.S. versions of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, etc. – i.e. the largest urban areas: New York (1%), Chicago (-1%), Philadelpha (-2.9%), Detroit (-4.2%), Boston (-1.3%).
So, for whatever reason, in Canada, the largest urban areas continue to grow strongly while in the U.S. the growth is in smaller urban areas.
Hmmm.