Back in January, I wrote this post on demographic trends in the District. The Census Bureau had just released its population estimates for 2005, which showed a drop in population in Washington of about 3,700 from 2004. I looked at Ward-level data and showed that growth in the western part of the city would likely reverse the population loss trend before long.

I’m still happy with that piece, though if I had to do it again I’d mention two additional things. First, I’d note that there’s a pretty good chance that D.C. is already back in the population positive. Washington’s population is uniquely transient and we have high concentrations of immigrants and lower-income residents, both of which generally cause the Census to undercount. Second, as many commenters noted after that earlier post, I should have pointed out that it really doesn’t matter whether or not we lose a few thousand people each year. Not the way we’re growing.