Montgomery County Hits 1 Million People Mark

Montgomery County is the first jurisdiction in Maryland to have more than 1 million people living in it, according to a county planning department statement.

The county's population, calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau, reached 1,004,709 last July, having gained more than 13,000 people between July 2011 and July 2012, "up from a revised 991,645 the previous year, a 1.3 percent increase," the statement added.

"Most of the population increase is due to births, what demographers call a 'net natural increase' of 7,630 people. In the period, 13,097 births exceeded 5,467 deaths," the statement continued.

The rest of the increase is from 8,700 people migrating into the county from abroad, "offsetting the net loss of 3,100 people moving out of the county during the period. A trend of international migration that began in 1990 has not slowed."

“We’ve planned for our population to increase,” acting planning director Rose Krasnow said. “Years ago, we set up tools to preserve our agricultural land and maintain our single-family neighborhoods. More recently we have created many mixed-use, multi-family housing opportunities in our downtowns or near Metro.”

Demographers say the upward population trend results from a rebounding economy and housing market.