Massachusetts’ largest metro regions added more than 260,000 residents between 2000 and 2009, confirming that rumors over the Bay State’s population demise have been greatly exaggerated.
The statistics — which are based on estimates in advance of the U.S. Census Bureau’s official tally — were released by the bureau this week. The federal agency is currently conducting its decennial census, the results of which won’t be available until December.
Greater Boston saw the state’s largest population surge, in terms and actual residents gained. The metro region, which includes Boston, Cambridge and Quincy, among other areas, had 4.59 million residents as of Dec. 31, a 4.5 percent increase from the 4.39 million tallied a decade earlier.
The increase solidified Greater Boston’s rank as the 10th-largest region in the country, per the Census data. That was the same rank garnered in the agency’s 2000 population count.
The region particularly benefited from strong international migration as well as a near 2-to-1 birth-to-death ratio among residents. The Census said 197,462 foreign nationals made Greater Boston their home between 2000 and 2009, while the area’s 515,962 births more than offset the 326,004 deaths recorded.
Some 235,918 residents left Massachusetts during that same period.
Other Massachusetts regions to gain residents between 2000 and 2009 included the surrounding areas of Worcester and Springfield. Worcester added 52,738 residents during that span, bringing its total populace to 803,701 people — ranked 65th nationally. The region’s 7 percent population growth was tops in the state.
Springfield grew by 18,889 residents to a total population 698,903 people, a 2.7 percent increase from the beginning of the decade. Springfield ranks as the 74th-largest metropolitan region in the United States.
Population losses were recorded in the metro areas of Barnstable (down 0.5 percent) and Pittsfield (down 4 percent).
CLICK HERE to search for population changes affecting specific regions and states. The searchable database was compiled by G. Scott Thomas, the special projects editor for the Buffalo Business Times, a sister paper to the Boston Business Journal.