Population growth slows greatly in county

The latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show Palm Beach County growth slowed dramatically as far fewer people moved here from other places in America.

Palm Beach Cou nty grew about 1.2 percent in the latest year reported, adding 17,382 people to come to an estimated 1.47 million.

But a year earlier, the county grew by 25,390 people, the Census Bureau said. The 2016-17 growth rate put Palm Beach County in the bottom half of counties by growth.

Palm Beach County’s deaths again slightly outstripped its births, leaving the entirety of the county’s growth due to people moving in.

About 11,000 people moved from foreign locations to Palm Beach County, a number similar to the previous several years but a significant jump from early in the decade.

But the number of people moving from other Florida counties, or other American states, plummeted. The Census Bureau says 6,552 people moved here domestically in the recent year, down from 14,383 the previous year.

Forecasters have had different predictions about when Palm Beach County would surpass

the 1.5 million mark.

Earlier this year, a brokerage firm expected Palm Beach County would hit it this year, but state forecasters expected

the mark to be reached sometime after 2020.