A [tag]U.S. Census Bureau[/tag] report being released today puts [tag]Pasco[/tag] at No. 8 among counties with the largest number of people moving into them. From 2000 to 2004, Pasco had an average net population growth of 15,934 residents a year. That figure weighs people moving into the county against those moving out.

The bureau’s list of the top 25 population gainers included six other Florida counties: Palm Beach (seventh), Lee (ninth), Hillsborough (13th), Lake (17th), Brevard (22nd) and Volusia (24th). As a whole, the [tag]Tampa metro area[/tag], which includes [tag]Hillsborough[/tag], [tag]Pinellas[/tag], [tag]Pasco[/tag] and [tag]Hernando[/tag] counties, gained an average of 36,395 people per year during the first half of this decade. That was more than double the gain for the 1990s, when the metro area averaged 17,645 people a year.