(Radio Iowa) – Updated population estimates from the U-S Census Bureau show growth in four of Iowa’s metropolitan areas. The Census Bureau estimates there was a three-point-one percent increase in the number of residents in the six counties that are part of the Des Moines metro over the past three years. Iowa City’s metro grew two-point-seven percent and Sioux City saw a very small uptick in its metro population of four-one-hundredths of a percent. Council Bluffs is part of the Omaha metro, where the population expanded by one-point-seven percent over the past three years.

The Census Bureau estimates indicate Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and the Waterloo/Cedar Falls metros all had very small population losses. The population in the Quad Cities dipped one-point-three percent over the past three years. Among all Midwest metros, Des Moines ranked as the fastest growing, ahead of Indianapolis and Madison, Wisconsin.

(The actual losses for Cedar Rapids was 0.3%, the Dubuque metro was down 0.4% and the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area was down 0.2%.)