Whitestown, Westfield rank as state’s fastest-growing communities

For the eighth consecutive year, Whitestown is the state’s fastest growing community, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau and analyzed by the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. This year, however, it will have to settle for a first-place tie.

The populations in both Whitestown and Westfield grew 5.2% in 2018, making both communities the fastest-growing places on a percentage basis among those with a population of at least 5,000 residents.

Over the past eight years, Whitestown has nearly tripled its population, growing from 3,132 in 2010 to 8,627 in 2018.

Westfield now has a population of 41,528 people, up from 39,482 last year, according to the estimates.

Meanwhile, in terms of sheer numbers, three Hamilton County cities were among the top five Indiana communities in adding residents last year.

Indianapolis finished No. 1 by adding 5,235 residents last year, followed by Fort Wayne (2,178), Westfield (2,046), Fishers (1,679) and Carmel (1,521).

On a percentage basis, other fast-growing communities in the state include St. John in Lake County (4.9%), Avon (4.4%) and Plainfield (4.3%).

Seventeen of the state’s fastest growing communities are found in either the Indianapolis metro area or the Indiana section of the Chicago metro area.

With a population of 867,125 residents, Indianapolis ranked as the nation's 17th largest city in 2018,just behind Charlotte, North Carolina (872,498) and ahead of Seattle, Washington (744,955). Fort Wayne (267,633) ranked as the 77th largest U.S. city.

Evansville (117,963) and South Bend (101,860) are the only other Indiana cities with more than 100,000 residents. Both saw a slight dip in population in 2018. Carmel remained the state's fifth largest city, with 93,510 residents, just ahead of Fishers (93,362).

Indiana's population ticked up from 6,660,082 in 2017 to 6,691,878 in 2018. In all, two-thirds of Indiana's residents in 2018 lived in incorporated places, while the remaining 2.2 million Hoosier residents lived in unincorporated areas of the state. Indiana's cities and towns as a group accounted for 79 percent of the state's total population growth in 2018.