Tiffin is the fastest growing city in Iowa, with the small Eastern Iowa community outpacing larger ones such as Waukee, Ankeny and all the major metro areas.
“The reason is the location. We’ve got all the best of the cultural (options) that Iowa City and Coralville have to offer with a very short driving distance, but yet we’ve still got the same small-town feel that people like to live in with their kids,” Tiffin Mayor Steve Berner said.
The U.S. Census Bureau released new population estimates for cities Thursday. The data show Tiffin’s population grew to more than 3,300 people by July 2017, up more than 72 percent since 2010.
By comparison, Coralville grew by 10.5 percent, Iowa City by 11.6 percent and Cedar Rapids by 4.6 percent.
North Liberty was the fifth-fastest growing Iowa city so far this decade, with a 40.5 percent growth rate. Solon, Ely and Shueyville also ranked among the Top 20 in Iowa.
Berner said Tiffin is near to the size where commercial businesses eye whether they should come to town. For example, he said Tiffin will get its first grocery store when Fareway opens a location there late this year.
A developer also has plans for an about 260-acre commercial and residential development, called Park Place, at the southwest corner of Forevergreen Road and Interstate 380.
The Tiffin City Council also plans to embark on vision planning for the city.
“We just started the process where we are developing a vision of town because we’ve always been a bedroom community, we know businesses are coming, but we need to develop a vision of what this town to be in 20 years,” Berner said.
Among cities with 50,000 people or more, the central Iowa city of Ankeny was the fourth-fastest growing in the country between 2016 and 2017, according to the census data.
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