U.S. Census Bureau - Hamilton County eclipsed all Indiana counties, ranking No. 1 in population growth and percent of population change from 1990 to 2000, according to Census 2000 numbers released Friday. The population increased by 73,804 people, a 67.7 percent jump during the 1990s. Hamilton outdistanced Marion County, which finished second in population growth with 63,295. In fact, Hamilton, Marion and Johnson counties combined to account for 30 percent of the entire state's growth during the decade. Hamilton County's explosive growth is no surprise to him.
Urban sprawl is pretty obvious in Hamilton County.
Most of Indianapolis' doughnut counties also experienced favorable growth during the '90s. Hendricks County to the west had the second highest percentage growth. It ballooned by 37 percent. Johnson to the south grew by nearly 31 percent, Hancock to the east by nearly 22 percent and Boone to the northwest by nearly 21 percent. The county ranks sixth with 182,740 residents, just 51 behind Elkhart, the next largest county, located just east of South Bend near the Michigan border.