Maryland generally is not considered a populous state. The U.S. Census Bureau says just shy of 6 million people live in the state. That puts Maryland at about 1.8 percent of the U.S. total of more than 320 million people.
Maryland, however, ranks sixth in the U.S. in the key population metric of people per square mile, behind Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
In other words, Maryland may be small in terms of population, but it is crowded.
It stands to reason, therefore, that the state's growth rate in the past year of 0.6 percent, as calculated by the Census Bureau, is at least in part a function of relative size compared to the amount of space left where people can live and still travel easily to their jobs.
Anyone who commutes – and that's an awful lot of people in Harford County – can attest that Maryland's major roadways are plenty crowded. The state may have a relatively small population, but there are times when it seems like every resident is headed to work on the same road.
Harford County's growth rate for the past year was substantially lower than the state's, at 0.3 percent. It's not a fluke. The county's growth rate trend since the 2010 census puts this decade on track to be the slowest in terms of growth for the county in 90 years.
It's possible this decade ends up as an anomaly and population growth picks up for Harford County and the state in the years to come, in which case many of the public policy regimens in place for the county won't have to be changed.
If, however, the trend continues, Harford County will need to re-think many of its public policy directions, starting with school system planning.
At present, the county's public schools, in aggregate, have space for substantially more students than are enrolled; even as population growth has slowed, enrollment has actually declined as the county's median age has shifted upward.
Similarly, public safety considerations will need to be evaluated. The county depends to a large degree on a volunteer fire and rescue service – though a paid component has been added to the rescue side – and the median age shifting up means fewer volunteers and more potential patients.
Any number of other things need to be reviewed, from police staffing levels to the kinds of facilities offered at public parks.
Harford County was slow to adjust to the demands rapid growth placed on public services and facilities. Roadways and schools were built largely as a function of trying to catch up with growth that already occurred.
Keeping an eye on the rate of population growth – and its relative age – in the next few years should become a driving force in deciding public policy efforts moving forward. It may be that population growth picks back up now that the recession that began in 2008 is drawing to a slow close, but if it doesn't, the county needs to be prepared to deal with the change.