Kansas City’s population passed the half-million mark for the first time since the 1970s.

More than 508,000 people now reside in the Cité des Fontaines, according to 2020 data published Thursday by the United States Census Bureau. This is the highest city population ever recorded.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said the latest census numbers topped all city hall estimates.

“Of course, there are different levels of growth in different [districts] that we have,” Lucas said. “But to me it’s a sign of a growing and diverse city with the largest population in the history of Kansas City, Missouri. And I think it shows that we still have more work to do. .

While Kansas City remains Missouri’s second-largest metropolitan area, the entire region has seen growth over the past decade, especially the suburbs to the north and south. Platte County led the way with nearly 20% growth, bringing its population to 106,718.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Platte County Presiding Commissioner Ron Shieber said. “Geographically, we are in a great place. We have great schools, great business environment, great amenities. We think we are one of the most attractive places to live, at least in our state.

Clay County wasn’t too far behind with a 14% increase. North Kansas City Mayor Bryant DeLong attributed Clay’s countywide growth to recent infrastructure projects.

“Here in North Kansas City, we’ve built apartments. We didn’t build enough in time to increase our population further,” DeLong says. “You do the census again, we’ll end up having over a thousand more.”

DeLong also said efforts in towns like Smithville, Kearney and Gladstone have helped attract more residents to the area.

“I know they’ve done a lot of work improving their downtowns, building new neighborhoods and improving their infrastructure,” DeLong said. “I mean, they did the whole package.”

Overland Park has seen the largest gain of any metro city, growing nearly 14% since 2010. Its population now stands at 197,238.

Kansas City, Kansas recorded a moderate increase with a 7.4% change since the last census, bringing its population to 156,000.

The city of St. Louis recorded only 301,000 residents in the 2020 census, about 18,000 less than in 2010. And many rural areas of MIssouri have seen declines.

Overall, Missouri’s population grew at a rate of 2.8%, just enough to keep the state from losing seats in the US House of Representatives.